Katherine's Tale
by BlackSandHeart
Summary: When Katherine ends up in another dimension for the first time and is -somewhat- stranded on the Space Colony ARK, adventure arises along with friends and family being made as well. Rated T because... hopefully you know. I'm recommending you read Dimension Jumpers first before this one but you can read this one first if you may. Please R&R!
1. Dimension Sickness

**Hello fellow readers! If you have no idea who this Katherine person is, then go find my other story named Dimension Jumpers. But, you don't have to do that if you don't want to. Anyways, this is my second story so please enjoy! Review please so I can know if you like it or not so I can see a point to continue writing this.**

**DISCLAIMER= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. I do, however, own Katherine, Windy, Zap, James, Darren, Annie, and the mystery professor whose name isn't mentioned yet.**

_**Katherine's Tale**_

**Chapter One: Dimension Sickness**

"I hate this idea." My friend Windy said with distaste. She frowned at me as I stood before a giant, swirling, every color known to man, vortex that was supposed to bring me to some other dimension. Zap promised I'd be fine but obviously all three of us were having second thoughts.

"If you feel anything, anything wrong, press the button and we'll take you back instantly." Zap said seriously, handing me a black box with a red button on it.

I raised an eyebrow, glancing at the box and back up at the smartest guy that our group of people had: Light Givers. We were part of the anti-group to the Followers of Darkness and stopped them whenever they had something to throw at us since all that they did was create chaos and evil. Zap made the dimension traveler as a two way go to prove his theory that other dimensions existed and of course the leaders of the Light Givers chose me: Katherine to go.

Zap looked at me, his golden ears twitched as his dark blue eyes scanned my sky blue ones. "Are you feeling okay; no headaches, dizziness, anything?"

"I'm fine, Ziggy." I rolled my eyes.

Zap glared at my friend Windy, giving me the good view of his zigzag shape scar that ran through the left side of his face. "You need to stop it with the nicknames."

Windy laughed. "I'll think about it, Zips."

Zap rolled his eyes and looked back at me. "You ready to go?"

I nodded. "Ready."

"Be safe Katherine." Windy muttered, her forest green eyes darkening for a moment. Her gray colored fur blew from the energy flying off the dimension traveling device. I nodded to her as a bullet proof glass container sealed her and Zap away from me. Zap gave me the thumbs up and I returned it before hopping into the dimension machine.

As soon as I was in, I knew something was wrong. I felt my body being thrown in every direction possible. I felt sick and almost puked but managed to close my eyes. Wind rushed through my tan colored hair and long ears that were a foot high. Then, I felt myself stop spinning, gravity take ahold, and I crashed into the ground.

I groaned. "Zap I'm going to kill you when I get back." I slowly opened my eyes and gasped when I saw a giant forest standing before me in every direction. I was in the middle of a nice, grassy field and the air was cool and smelled of dirt. The sky was a brilliant blue with fluffy white clouds that were slowly floating towards me. The wind blew peacefully as I slowly stumbled to my feet.

"Wow…" I gasped. This place was amazing. It was so beautiful… almost like I had been thrown into a whole new… world. Was this another dimension? If that was the case then this place was beautiful. I glanced to my left and high above the treetops I could see the outline to some city. I gasped once again. There was life in this dimension.

_I got to go to the city first._ I thought to myself. There I could learn more about this place, like where I am, what year it is, and all those other questions. Even if I was considered weird asking such things I wouldn't care. I could knock them out in three seconds flat if I wanted to.

As I took a step forward, a sudden pain shot right through me. I cried out as I took a step backwards. I gripped at my shoulder as it felt like I was burning alive on the inside. The feeling spread throughout my entire body and I collapsed to the ground. Tears sprung up in my eyes as I tried not to scream in pain.

As I laid on the ground for what felt like hours, the pain got worse and worse. I cried and finally yelled out for help, but no one came. No one could hear me out here in the middle of the woods. My vision dimmed and the pain continued. _I'm going to die out here_. I realized after a moment. However hard I tried to stay awake though, I couldn't and I passed out on the ground.

**-THIRD PERSON POV-**

"Great. They didn't have any more raspberries and they are Maria's favorite." An old man muttered as he headed out of the city and towards the woods where his spaceship was cleverly hidden. He held groceries in his hands and looked up at the sky. "She will understand though. She does have a heart like that."

As he moved into the woods, he noticed that the songbirds weren't chirping their usual songs. All was oddly quiet and all that did was just unnerve the doctor. He kept glancing around until he came out to a small clearing. He planned on running across the clearing as fast as his legs could carry him until he noticed someone or _something_ lying still in the grass.

He cautiously approached it and was shocked to find a small cat-like figure. It obviously had to be female and her chest was barely rising up and down. She had a hand limply holding onto her shoulder and her eyes were closed tightly. She wore black boots, tan shorts, and a white shirt and had a blue diamond in the center of her forehead. The long ears on top of her head was quite a sight to see for the old man and he cautiously tapped her… but reared his hand away from the girl in shock.

Her skin was _burning_ hot. He gasped and looked around, knowing that he didn't have enough time to go to the hospital. He had to take her back up with him and hopefully they could find out who she was and bring her back. Leaving her here was not an option. She was going to die if he did that.

He ran off to the other side of the clearing where his spaceship was cleverly hidden by branches and twigs. He tore all these off and typed in the passcode: _M-A-R-I-A_ before the door hissed open. He dropped the food inside before running back with a pair of emergency gloves his friend Professor Darren made. That man was making the most random stuff that was never going to be needed but the fact that these gloves were needed was one of the many times the old man was thankful Dames wasn't here.

The man, known as Professor Gerald Robotnik, put on the gloves that were known for helping people carry burning hot items or freezing cold ones too. As he carefully picked up the girl and placed her into a seat, he checked to see how hot she was. If possible, the girl was even hotter than before.

He buckled her in, quickly got into his seat and started the engine. The spacecraft launched the two into the air where they shot off into space. The doctor looked back before pulling out the radio and talking into it: "James, do you read me?"

_"Ahhh Gerald! Good to hear you! What's the matter? No more raspberries again?"_

"Not now James, we have more important matters to discuss. I need an ER room opened as soon as I'm on there."

James was silent for a moment. _"What happened, doc?"_ He finally asked.

Gerald looked back on the dying girl and frowned. "I don't know… I don't know…"

-XXXXXXXX-

_Beep…. Beep… Beep… Beep…_

The sound of the heart monitor made Katherine opened her eyes slowly. She was in a dimly lit room and was lying on a metal table. She was in a hospital gown and felt extremely tired. The last thing she remembered was…

It all hit her in a flash and she tried to sit up, but felt sudden pain, forcing her to lie back down again. Her head sank into a feather pillow and she stared quietly up at the blank ceiling. There was a lamp that connected to a desk that had an old computer on it. She stared at the machine before looking back at the ceiling. Where was she? What was going on? There was a sudden crash that made Katherine tense up. She glanced around and swore she saw a figure run off into the distance. She frowned, who was that?

Suddenly, exhaustion hit her and Katherine closed her eyes, falling asleep again.

-XXXXXXXX- **Katherine's POV**

The sound of voices was what brought me too again, but I didn't bother opening my eyes. I figured that maybe Zap or someone else from the Light Givers was talking about what happened to me while I traveled to the other dimension. However, when I listened more closely I realized I recognized no one's voice.

"I'm telling you, what she needs is some flying shoes!" A man's voice said.

"Please, Darren." A female's voice said. "Flying shoes is not going to help this poor girl to get better."

"Maybe surgery on her ears," A dark voice suggested. "Those things are as tall as a skyscraper."

I twitched my left ear and everyone fell silent. I could hear the heart monitor continue and the shallow breathing of everyone in the room. I didn't know any of these people… and that could mean a very bad thing.

"You think she's awake?" The female voice said after a pause.

"She has to be." Another man's voice said. "The computer guessed for her to wake up an hour ago."

"So she could've been listening to our conversation the entire time?" The man named Darren said nervously.

"I doubt it. Who knows if she can even hear with those big things?" The dark voice grumbled.

I sighed quietly. Okay that was it. Now these people were just mocking me. I opened my eyes and caused everyone to jump back in alarm. "It's awake! It's awake!" Darren wailed and he ran out of the room before I could get a good look at him.

"It's a she!" The female voice, belonging to a girl with short black hair having Asian features and a friendly smile, yelled at him; she turned to me, the smile still on her face. "Hello there."

I raised an eyebrow and looked around at everyone else in the room. There were three other people in the room at the moment. One was the girl, and the other two were male. One had a bald head and a white mustache on his face. Round glasses covered his eyes so it was hard to look at him in the eye because of the glare from the neighboring lights. The other man wore a black lab coat while the other two wore a white one. He had his hands in his pockets and his dark brown hair looked almost black. His brown eyes stared at me with distaste.

The bald man stepped forward. "Welcome back to the world. You gave us quite a shock a few weeks ago."

A few _weeks_? How long had I been out?

"My name is Gerald Robotnik but you can just call me Gerald… you can talk, can't you?"

There was a moment of silence and I sighed. "Yes I can talk."

Everyone looked surprised once again for a moment but they shook the fear away quickly. Gerald smiled and held out a hand. "It's good to see you can talk. What's your name?"

I looked at the hand before shaking it. "Katherine. I'm Katherine."

"Nice name, I'm Annie." The Asian woman said. She shook my hand as soon as Gerald let go of mine. I smiled and glanced back at the man behind me.

"Humph," was all he said and he left the room, exiting through a metal door.

Gerald rolled his eyes. "Well, that's him."

"What's going on here?" I demanded after a pause. "How long have I been out?"

"You, dear, have been out for two weeks. From all that I can gather is that you were burning alive when I found you. We took you up here, performed surgery, and saved your life. I think the correct term is for us to ask _you_ what's going on here." Gerald said seriously.

I remained quiet. Burning alive? Zap warned me that that was the main sign of… "Dimension sickness." I muttered.

"What?"

I looked up at the two doctors. "Nothing."

There was a long moment of silence and finally, Gerald sighed in defeat as if knowing he wasn't going to get any information out of me. "Well… I have work to do. Project Shadow won't start itself, you know? Annie, will you take Katherine here to her room?"

"I'd love to," Annie smiled at me and I raised an eyebrow. Wait, they were expecting me to stay here freely? I had to get back home to my other dimension!

"Good, and Katherine?" Gerald asked.

I turned my attention back to Gerald.

"Keep an eye out for the other experiments. Don't talk to any of them… they can become quite… dangerous." Gerald finished. He then turned his back to me and stared at the computer while Annie gently took my hand and pulled me out of the room.

"So don't talk to anyone other than us, you got that?" Annie asked as soon as we were out.

"Yeah..." I frowned. Thousands of questions were spinning in my mind at the moment. "But… where am I?"

"You're on the Space Colony ARK." Annie said friendly.

My frown grew. "ARK?"

"Yes, this is a huge lab is full of doctors working on different kinds of experiments. We're being funded by the government so we can keep finding out new things. All of us are here to help build military things for G.U.N. But, Gerald is also looking for a cure for his granddaughter, poor thing. She has NIDS you know."

"Uh, no. I don't know."

Annie looked at me in surprise. "You don't know? Well it's a terrible disease... but don't worry it doesn't spread easily."

I raised an eyebrow for what felt like the millionth time that day as Annie stopped before a door labeled: _365_. I looked back at Annie as she smiled. "Here's your room!" She opened the door and revealed a plain old room with a plain old bed and a plain old dresser to my left. There were no windows and the light switch was beside me.

"It's kind of dull in here." I managed to say after a moment of investigating.

Annie sighed. "Sorry… I'd decorate it up cute for you but I don't want any other experiments to get… jealous. Anyways we'll come get you when we need you and we'll get you for dinner too. Either way, stay in here and don't talk to anyone but us, okay?"

I frowned. "Okay…"

Annie then glanced at a watch on her wrist. "Oh my gosh! I'm late!" She then raced down the hallway, her lab coat flying behind her as she took a sharp left and left me all alone.

"Wait!" I yelled. "Annie?" But she didn't hear me; she was gone. I was all alone now with my own thoughts. I turned and walked into the dull room, my hand went into where my pocket was supposed to be but I was still in a hospital gown and I scowled angrily. I was stuck here until I found out where my remote was. Just my luck, Zap and Windy would be laughing at me now if they were with me.

I moved over to the dresser, closing the door in the process and opened it a drawer, surprised to find new clothes in there already. I quickly changed into a blue T-shirt, black shorts, and as soon as I was done, I heard a sound from outside my door.

Annie's words came back to me about not talking to anyone but them so I decided to ignore the sound until I heard a small sneeze. I glanced back at the door. Someone was defiantly out there. I glanced at the top of the dresser and saw a small lamp. I pulled the lamp down and carefully moved to the door. I waited for a sound… and then another sneeze was heard.

I threw open the door and chucked the lamp as hard as I could. The lamp shattered on the wall on impact but I had missed my target, since they ducked.

My eyes glanced down at the target which happened to be a human girl. Her shoulder length blond hair was almost covered by her slender hands as she covered her head protectively. She glanced up at me with big blue eyes and then blinked slowly. Her blue dress reached below her knees and shiny blue shoes were on her feet.

"Oh my gosh!" I yelled. Annie and Gerald's number one rule flew out of my mind as soon as I saw her. I bent down beside her. "Are you okay?"

"You tried to kill me with a lamp!" The girl said in disbelief.

**There's chapter one! If you don't know who the girl is then read on until the next chapter (hopefully you know who she is though). Shadow was mentioned in this story but he's not revealed until a few more chapters (probably chapter three). Anyways, R&R! Don't be shy. I always enjoy hearing other's thoughts and ideas.**


	2. Maria

**Chapter two is now here! Please, if you haven't yet, R+R!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA= the ARK, Mobius, Maria, Gerald, and Shadow. Everyone else belongs to me.**

**Chapter Two: Maria**

_Katherine's POV_

"You tried to kill me with a lamp!" The girl repeated.

I flinched. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean too!"

The girl stood up and was taller than me, but only by a foot or two. She looked down at me and I looked up at her. She suddenly smiled, surprising me. "It's okay, I bet you didn't mean to. Did Annie tell you not to talk to anyone?"

I nodded.

"That would do it. She forgot to mention me again."

"Again?" I echoed.

"Long story involving other professors," The girl laughed. "Anyways, my name's Maria. What's your name?"

"Katherine." I smiled.

"Wow, that's a pretty name."

"Thanks, so is Maria."

There was a moment of silence until Maria broke it. "Hey do you know how to play tag?" She asked.

I blinked. "Of course!"

"Oh that's good because… tag! You're it!" Maria shoved me back into my room, slammed the door close and then ran down the hall giggling. I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say or do before I sighed. _It's better than being locked up in here bored out of my mind._ I thought. I opened the door and used my long ears to find out where this girl named Maria had ran before running after her. The game lasted for at least an hour before we both stopped our game, panting in front of the door to my room.

"That… was fun!" Maria gasped.

I could only nod.

Maria looked down the hallway and pointed to the room on the very end as soon as she caught her breath. "That's my room, you know."

I looked down the hall at door number _268_ before looking at Maria.

"Come and get me tonight and I'll show you the best room we have on the ARK." Maria grinned.

I frowned. This girl was quite naïve but she did have a fun spirit. I couldn't help but enjoy having her around. She was much friendlier than any other professor I had met earlier today. Well… that was if today was even a day. It was hard to tell in space.

Maria had explained to me some things when we would stop and catch our breath in different parts of the ARK. She told me how her grandfather, Professor Robotnik, had failed many times to get his "Project Shadow" to start working correctly and how it was being created to help her get better. She explained to me how she was sick and how she always dreamed of being on Earth. She was fascinated when I told her stories of what I saw when I first came to this dimension and begged for more when I told her all I knew about this place.

I laughed. "Alright then, I'll come get you if that's what you want."

"Thanks Katherine!" Maria hugged me right then and there. She let go of me after a pause and we stared silently at my closed door. "You know I'm the only kid on the entire ARK."

I frowned. "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Maria became sad and looked at the ground. "Well, I got to go. See you tonight, Katherine!"

-XXXXXXXX-

I nervously knocked on the door. It was late at night and as I looked around I saw no other soul around. "Maria?"

The door opened instantly, scaring the light out of me. Maria laughed quietly while I put a hand on my pounding heart to catch my breath. "Don't do that!" I said to her, trying to sound angrily.

Maria laughed. "Sorry! Okay follow me."

After following her for many twists and turns, we arrived before a large metal door. Maria slowly pushed it open and as soon as the door was gone, I gasped. Before me was a giant blue planet that was silently spinning in space. Stars glittered around it and to my far left the sun was shining brightly. I ran up to the planet and realized there was a window before me and I looked down on the planet, my hands pressed against the glass.

Maria moved next to me and sat down. I sat down next to her after a moment and both of us stared out onto the blue planet. "It's beautiful…" I breathed.

"Yeah," Maria smiled. "Whenever I get mad at the other professors or get bored I come here. This is my favorite spot in the entire ARK."

"I can see why." I said, my eyes absorbing the view.

Maria smiled and we both became quiet, staring out the window. I couldn't believe how beautiful the world looked from up here. After a moment, I realized that Maria was twiddling her thumbs and I looked at her. "What's wrong?"

Maria looked at the ground. "Well… after spending almost my entire life up here… you're the only friend I've ever had, Katherine."

I blinked in surprise and looked around the room, seeing nothing until I noticed a punching bag in the corner of the room. I stood up and moved towards the bag while Maria continued. "I mean, my grandfather and his close colleges are some of my friends but truthfully you're the only friend I've ever had, Katherine."

I froze and looked back at her. She had barely known me for a day and we were already _friends_? The word seemed foreign to me. The only friends I ever had were Zap and Windy and I was supposed to consider those two acquaintances. It was against the rules to have any friends. But…

As Maria looked at me, I couldn't help but realize I was considering her to be my friend too. There was no way the Light Givers were ever going to know about this… right? As long as I said nothing no one would ever know I had made a friend up here in this dimension in outer space.

I smiled. "And you're my friend too, Maria." Strangely, as soon as I said it, I felt a feeling of peace and happiness. I can't exactly explain it but it did feel quite amazing. Maria smiled at me as soon as the words left my mouth.

Suddenly, the door burst open and both of us turned to see Gerald standing in the doorway, his arms crossed. He raised an eyebrow at the two of us while Maria opened her mouth. "Grandfather! I can explain…"

"There is no need to explain, I saw everything." He motioned towards a video camera in the corner of the room and he looked at me. I blinked nervously, wondering if I had suddenly done something wrong. "And as for you Katherine…"

"Yes… sir?" I swallowed.

Gerald stared me down for a moment before breaking into a grin. "Congratulations! You have now passed my first test!"

Maria and I stared, dumbfounded, at him. "What test?" I managed to say.

"Well…" Gerald coughed nervously into a gloved hand. "When I first had you placed on the ARK, I wanted to have you transported back to Earth because I figured from there you could go back to wherever it was you came from. However, Maria insisted for you to stay so she could have a friend. My first test was to see if you had the ability and the heart to make friends, which you have."

I raised an eyebrow, a faint smile on my lips. "So what, I'm your lab mouse now?"

"My lab cat," Gerald corrected. "Don't worry though. We won't run any tests on you. You seem like a normal, long eared cat to me."

_If only you knew._ I thought while I forced a smile. "Guess so!"

-XXXXXXXX-

**Three months later…**

_Oh great. I'm lost now. Where am I? I think I'm in the Northern Corner of the ARK. I don't know though… it's hard to tell when everything looks the same._ I thought as I moved around the ARK. Three long months had passed since I came from my dimension. Gerald had given me back my old clothes with the button Zap gave me still in my pocket. I hadn't dared to press it because every time I tried to I found myself thinking about Maria. She was such a good friend to me and being up here in outer space all alone… it had to be miserable. I was all she had at the moment.

Except, how could I possibly be her friend when I got lost during hide and go seek? I peeked around the corner before silently moving through the hall I glanced down. I didn't see Maria or any other familiar professors within the last hour or so. And even as I thought about it, where was everybody?

I looked around the room when a sudden voice echoed around the room. I jumped five feet off the floor until I realized it was an announcement. _"Operation Overlord is now in progress. Will everyone please go up to level 5A to see the entertainment? Thank you."_ _Click_. I blinked in surprise as the announcement ended.

Operation Overlord? That didn't sound good. I looked around and checked my pockets for the hand drawn map of the ARK Maria had given me. I finally found it and pulled it out and inspected it. Maria's messy handwriting at the time made me smile faintly as I found that I was in the northern part of the ARK since I passed the gym five minutes ago. I traced my fingers upward until I found what I was looking for. Level 5A. The stairs weren't too far away from where I was now.

I raced over to the stairs and jumped up them before reaching 5A. Except, when I reached the door I followed the Windy instincts inside of me and went up to the empty level of 6A (that Maria had told me was forbidden). I opened the door quietly and beheld a sight of dust and cobwebs; although how spiders were surviving in outer space I wasn't sure.

"Hello?" I called out quietly and didn't get an answer. I moved down the empty hallway, my feet leaving footprints on the ground behind me.

I glanced around. Maria told me that up here the other scientists built an experiment: Project Night. Sadly, the experiment went haywire and killed almost everyone. The only survivors were Gerald and the dark man I saw- whose name was Professor Sanderson, or as Maria and I called him, Professor Scarecrow because of how creepy he was.

Project Night's fate was never told to me. And some part of me didn't want to know. Maria said she wanted the project to stay alive because it had feelings and its own opinions on things. However, it was too dangerous to keep around… and its fate was never known to Maria and now me too.

As I walked down, I noticed a gloomy light in the distance and saw a window. I ran forward and glanced out the window… and before me was a large stadium.

"This doesn't look good." I whispered to the dust and spiders and maybe the remains of Project Night.

-XXXXXXXX- **Maria's POV**

"Grandfather!" Maria cried as she was forced to a crouch next to her tied up grandfather. Ropes were tied around her wrists that forced her not to be able to hug him. She looked up at the tall man in the lab coat that tied them up and then marched away. Maria turned her attention back to her Grandfather before glancing around the large room that looked just like a stadium. "What's going on? Why are we in the Testing Room?"

Gerald looked at his granddaughter with a frown. "The other professors are mad at me."

"Why?"

Gerald sighed, as if debating. "Project Shadow isn't turning out the way we wanted to. ARK is going to shut down if we don't find a way to keep the project's cells from self-destructing within the next hour. I guess they know we have no hope so they're going to get rid of me."

"No! They can't do this to us!"

Gerald said nothing as the tall man that tied up Maria marched up to the front of the room. He lifted a fist into the air and called out to the other professors. "Fellow scientists! How many you here are sick of this man and his promises?"

The entire room roared out their response, obviously not in favor of Gerald or his granddaughter.

"We are all going to get fired because of this man and how many you say down with him and his granddaughter?"

Another roar, but this time it sounded excited.

"Then here they are, in the Testing Room that has been used for all our failed projects to stand against one of the failed projects! Behold my fellow scientists, Project Night!"

Gerald paled while Maria gasped. The tall man walked off the stadium grounds and into the stands surrounding the giant grass field as a giant glass bowl made of rocket proof glass surrounded Gerald and Maria. The two looked around nervously as a giant crane opened a door. They glanced at it and watched as a monster stepped out from the shadows.

Its left hand was entirely robotic with giant claws that were as long as throwing knives. They glinted in the harsh light. It looked like a misshapen black panther and it leaned heavily on its right leg and dragged its left leg behind it. It had a long, black tail like Katherine's and its violet eyes gleamed with a crazed look in them.

Maria gasped quietly as the monster took another heavy step towards them, the robotic claws on its hand slowly clenched into a fist. "It's Project Night." She whispered.

Then the creature charged.

**CLIFFHANGER! I'm good at these. Anyways, Project Night has attacked, Katherine is helpless to do nothing but watch at the moment, and Maria and Gerald's fate looks pretty grim. Next Chapter has Shadow in it so stick around and read the next chapter!**


	3. Little Brother

**Chapter three is up! Enjoy and please R+R if you haven't yet.**

**Also thanks to the following reviewers that read Dimension Jumpers and this story too (recently): Maraya Prower (here's Shadow for you :)) and RaliK360 (I'd give you cake if I could haha) you guys are amazing! :D Therefore, Windy will give you a hug!**

**Windy "What? No!"**

**Okay… scratch that. But you guys are still amazing!**

**Disclaimer= everything that belongs to SEGA obviously belongs to SEGA. Anything you've never seen on a SEGA game, TV show, comic, or anything else belongs to me. Copyrighting any of my characters without permission results in instant shock by Zap himself.**

**Chapter Three: Little Brother**

_Maria's POV_

I closed my eyes tightly and pressed my face into my grandfather's lab coat as Project Night shot towards us, his metal fist lifted high as he flew towards us on his bare, black feet.

Suddenly the sound of glass shattering to my left and the sound of scientists screaming was all I heard. I opened my eyes when my grandfather gasped and looked over to see Project Night backing away from us and in his way was… Katherine?

"Katherine!" I yelled. "Get out of here! Project Night will kill you!"

Katherine crossed her arms and flicked her tail, her face obviously focusing on the monster before her, not me. I could almost see the gears in her head turning as Project Night shot forward again, a fist raised once more.

"Katherine, leave! Now!" Grandfather yelled.

Without a warning Katherine held a hand out, her full attention on the monster when something glowing appeared in her hand. As the light grew brighter, I could see a shape slowly forming in her hand as she held it out. Then, in a flash of bright light, a glowing white sword appeared in her hands. She smirked and swung the sword threateningly at the monster. "Come and get me you overgrown robot!"

Project Night made a weird growling noise before charging again. As he lifted his claws out, Katherine lifted up her sword and sparks flew as claws and sword collided. Katherine kicked the project in the gut and the thing skidded back a few feet.

Suddenly, someone was behind me, untying the ropes. I looked back and saw Annie, furiously working on the ropes while Scarecrow worked on Grandfather's. Soon we were both free and I started running towards Katherine, but Annie stopped me.

"She's going to be killed!" I cried as Annie held my hand tightly.

"Katherine will be fine!" Annie said. "We need to get out of here!"

Project Night punched Katherine in the side of her face and I watched as she flew through the glass like it was made of nothing but air. She landed hard on one of the seats and lifted a hand and blasted Night with some type of white energy.

Night sidestepped it and lunged forward… but Katherine wasn't there anymore. She suddenly appeared in front of all of us, sword in hand. I gasped in shock and awe. "How did you do that?"

Katherine laughed. "I always could!"

She charged forward again while Project Night looked around, wondering where the girl vanished off too. I looked back at the three scientists behind me, whose jaws were dropped. Annie glanced over at my grandfather. "Do you think…?"

Grandfather nodded, looking like he had when he saw all the Christmas presents for him under the tree. "Her cells will be able to keep Project Shadow alive…"

Scarecrow nodded silently in agreement, as if he was thinking the same thing. I started smiling as the news slowly sank in. "Does this mean the ARK won't close down?"

Grandfather ruffled my hair and smiled. "Yes, Katherine has saved us all."

I looked over at my friend again and saw that she was standing before an unconscious Project Night. She looked back at me and then ran towards us. "Are you okay?" She asked nervously. When she saw everyone looking relived and/or thrilled she frowned. "Uh… what's up?"

Grandfather grabbed Katherine's hand and smiled at her. "Katherine, you have saved us all, thank you."

"You're… welcome?"

"I need your help."

"What is it? I can do almost anything… as you just saw but anyways what would you like me to do?"

"I need some of your cells."

"What for?"

I couldn't take it any longer. "For Project Shadow! Your cells are going to help Project Shadow's cells from exploding when the immortal chaos energy is transported in its veins!" I blurted out. Everyone looked at me with annoyed faces while Katherine's jaw dropped.

"Why me?" Katherine finally asked.

"You just used energy to stop Project Night. The energy means that your cells are capable of holding energy and if we transport a few of your cells into Project Shadow then Shadow's cells will be able to learn from your cells how to hold energy and therefore Shadow will be able to control his energy!" Grandfather explained excitedly.

Katherine blinked while this sank in. After a moment she lifted her eyes to Grandfather with a light in her eyes. "Alright, I'll help."

-XXXXXXXX-

_Katherine's POV_

"This might hurt for a moment, okay?" Annie said to me while we were in a small, white room with nothing but a small table that I was sitting on.

She was holding a small needle in her hand and I was eyeing it suspiciously. She quickly stuck it into my arm without giving a warning and I bit my tongue as blood slowly filled up the small container. After a moment of awkward silence, Annie removed the needle and placed a Band-Aid on my arm then removed the strap around my arm.

"There it's done. I'll give this to Gerald and we are going to be busy for a few days. It's going to be just you and Maria for a while." Annie explained to me. "Gerald, Sanderson, Darren, and I will be working on Project Shadow and the due date for him to be finished is in three days. So do not disturb us unless it's an emergency, but I'm sure you can take care of yourself."

I nodded as Annie ushered me out the door where Maria was waiting. Maria smiled at me while Annie ran off with the blood vile filled with my blood in her hands. We watched her go and I looked at Maria before we both started talking excitedly.

"I hope he looks cute!" Maria said wistfully. "Project Night looked cute… until he went haywire. But either way I hope this one is cute too!"

I grinned. "Whoever it is, Project Shadow is going to be my little brother!"

"Little brother? How?"

"Well he is being somewhat made out of my cells, right?"

"Right."

"Then he's related to me in some weird way so I'm going to call him my little brother!" I said seriously.

Maria laughed. "This should be fun! With the three of us we can have more fun playing tag or racing down the halls."

My grin grew, knowing it was true.

Maria led the way down the hallway and I followed her. We passed through a few more twists and turns until we reached two metal doors. Maria opened the doors and I beheld the sight of the kitchen.

"I guess we can hang out in here and in the Star Gazing room until Grandfather and everyone else is done with Project Shadow." Maria said quietly while she moved toward the giant wooden table in the middle of the room. I glanced over at the soda fountain before pouring myself a cup of lemonade with a paper cup. I sat on one end of the table while Maria sat on the other.

I took the opportunity to look around the room. The wooden table was big enough to sit about two dozen people, to my left in the wall was a window where the robot named E-124 served any kind of meal one wanted… if there were the supplies in it available. The soda fountain was behind us in the wall and the door was to our right.

Maria and I were silent for a moment until she broke the silence. "Maybe we should get him something."

"What?"

"Well it _is_ his birthday."

We were silent again until I broke the silence once again. "Well… what should we get him?"

Another silence settled down on us. Maria looked thoughtful while I closed my eyes slowly. I smiled at the thought that I would have a little brother. In my dimension I was an only child and I had always wanted another sibling.

"I can sow…" Maria said quietly. "I bet I can make something for him..."

Without much else to do and the exhaustion of the battle against Project Night catching up to me, I fell asleep.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Katherine, Katherine!"

My eyes shot open and I grabbed at my invisible sword by my side and looked into deep blue eyes before sighing in relief. "Oh thank heaven, it's just you Maria." I released my grip on the sword and looked at the white box in her hands. "What is that?"

"You'll see!" Maria winked at me friendly before taking one of the chairs next to me. She set the white box on the table and laced her fingers together, looking thoughtfully at the box.

"How long have I been out?" I wondered after a moment of silence.

"I'm guessing… a couple of hours."

"Couple of hours?"

"Maybe twelve or thirteen, now that I think about it."

"Twelve hours?"

"Calm down Katherine! All I did was make Shadow's present! Nothing happened while you were out." Maria laughed.

"Promise?"

"Promise. Besides, Gerald and all of them should be out in a few more hours… so how would you like to test Shadow's present?"

I blinked. "Test… his present?"

Maria slowly removed the box and pulled out two black and red shoes. I looked at them mysteriously before picking them up. "Wow, you made these?"

Maria shrugged and pushed them towards me. "Try them on!"

I slowly took off my black boots and carefully looked at the black and red sneakers before putting them on. I set my shoes on the table before standing up and running around the room. Maria watched me run around with a smile on her face.

"Do they work?" She asked.

"Yeah they work!" I called as I ran up the wall and flipped backwards onto the table. The sneakers cushioned my fall and I looked at the wall, seeing no footprints on the white wall. I looked back at a smiling Maria. "Wow, how did you make these?"

Maria just smiled then shrugged.

I continued running around the room, trying out my little brother's sneakers before sliding to a stop. "Hey, Maria?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you know these are going to fit Project Shadow?"

"You can just call him Shadow you know."

"Alright, how are these going to fit Shadow?"

"They can adjust."

I shrugged, the answer seemed simple enough to me at the time. I ran up the wall again when the door flew open. I flipped backwards and landed innocently next to Maria with my hands behind my back as Scarecrow and Gerald walked into the room.

Gerald shook his head at me while Maria stood up. "Did you finish?"

Both shook their head, which caused Maria to look down sadly. I frowned too as Scarecrow glanced down at my feet. "What are those?" He asked in his gruff voice.

"Shoes for Shadow." Maria said. "Katherine's testing them out."

Gerald nodded his head before moving to E-124. "A cup of coffee please." He said seriously. There was a moment of silence until E-124 held a robotic hand with a cup of coffee out the window. Gerald accepted the cup and sat next to Maria.

"How is it going?" Maria asked.

Scarecrow shrugged. "Not perfectly. Shadow's system is able to accept the chaos energy thanks to Katherine's cells. The main issues now are getting his arms and legs to hook up with the brain and after that we have to check the frontal lobe to see if it is developing correctly and then from there test the left atrium to see if blood is able to pump through there again…"

"You're losing them, Sanderson." Gerald laughed quietly.

Sanderson stood up tall and said nothing while Katherine cracked a smile. "But it's working, right?"

"Right," Gerald nodded. "Annie and Darren are in there now, still at work. It's our break time right now so we decided to check up on you two."

Maria and I stayed silent for a moment before Maria spoke up. "You're going to need your sleep, grandpa. You have been up for over a day now."

"It's been fourteen hours. We can handle it. We should finish by tomorrow… hopefully, As long as nothing bad happens. You can visit Shadow then." Gerald said.

I took off Shadow's shoes and placed them in the white box before grabbing my boots and putting those on. Gerald shook his head. "You two are the ones that are going to need some sleep soon." He said.

Maria pouted. "I don't need any sleep. I'm fine, grandpa." As soon as she finished though, she yawned.

Gerald rolled his eyes. "I'll come get both of you in the morning. I promise."

Maria and I stayed silent as Gerald finished his cup of coffee. He stood up, gave Maria a hug before leaving the room with Scarecrow. As soon as he was gone, Maria yawned again. "He's right. We're going to need some sleep. See you in the morning?"

"I'll come with you." I stood up. The two of us walked slowly down the hallway and I couldn't help but notice that Maria was limping slightly. I debated about whether or not to bring it up but before I could get the courage, we were in front of Maria's door.

"See you in the morning, Katherine!" Maria said cheerfully. She opened the door and looked back at me. "Do you want to sleep in here tonight?"

I shrugged, why not? Maria led me into the room and I looked around. There were pictures of planet Earth covering most of the walls. I noticed a picture on her dresser and smiled when I saw that it contained a picture of Maria and me.

Maria made a small bed on the ground and when she was about to climb into it, I stopped her. "You sleep on the bed." I ordered her seriously.

"What? No! I'm fine on the floor!"

"I can't let my friend sleep on the floor." I said, trying not to grin.

Maria sighed in disbelief and then got into her bed while I climbed into the bed on the floor. I pulled the blanket over me while Maria whispered. "Goodnight!"

"Sleep tight!" I echoed back.

"Don't let the spiders bite you and… then chew your brains out." Maria teased.

"Whatever!" I laughed. I closed my eyes while Maria turned over in her bed. I smiled quietly to myself and then fell asleep again.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Maria…?" A quiet voice called out. There was a moment of silence before continuing. "Oh good, Katherine's in here too. Get up you two. I need you to meet someone."

I groaned and sat up, surprised by the harsh light shining down on me from above. Maria rolled over and sat up instantly, obviously being a better morning person then I was. I blinked slowly and rubbed my eyes, seeing Gerald standing by the door.

Maria hopped out of bed. "Are you done? Is Shadow okay?"

"Follow me," Gerald said slowly. Maria turned to me and literally yanked me out of my bed. I swore my arm popped out of my socket for a moment as she then dragged me out of the room after Gerald.

"What does he look like?" Maria asked excitedly.

"You'll have to see." Gerald said as I managed to get to my feet while Maria dragged me. I started walking on my own, waking up almost fully now as excitement rushed through my veins. Maria let go of me as Gerald turned the corner, leading towards the lab. I looked at the walls and recognized a long black line on one wall. This wall was the same wall I noticed while Maria gave me a tour of this place. We were heading towards the lab; the same lab that I woke up in.

We stopped before the familiar metal doors. I glanced upwards at them as Gerald moved towards a little keypad next to the door and typed in the password: _SHADOW_. The doors opened and we saw Annie with a clipboard. Next to her was Scarecrow and on the other side of the room Darren was rambling on something about chipmunks.

"I'm telling you," he was saying. "If we gave it a chipmunk tail…"

"We're not changing it anymore and that's final." Scarecrow said firmly.

"Where's Shadow?" Gerald asked when he walked into the room.

Scarecrow and Darren continued yelling at each other but Annie looked back to us before nodding towards a room with the door closed that I didn't notice the first time I was here. I frowned as Gerald led us towards the door with Annie following behind us.

The door opened and I found myself looking at a soft bed with wires and gadgets all over the place. The bed, however, was empty as Gerald ushered us in and shut the door behind him. As soon as the door was closed, the only light available was the light hanging above the bed.

Annie looked around with a frown as Gerald coughed into a gloved hand quietly. Maria and I looked at him as he spoke up. "Shadow? Would you please come down here please?"

There was a moment of silence as Maria and I glanced around the room when a sudden figure dropped down behind us. I spun around and grabbed my sword handle but Gerald put a hand on my arm gently. I looked up at him and he shook his head slowly. I then released my hold on my sword.

Maria cocked her head. "Is that…?"

The figure stepped into the light revealing a black hedgehog with red stripes. His crimson colored eyes stared at us thoughtfully as they investigated all of us. He stood proudly before us as well with his arms crossed. I frowned as those dark red eyes stopped on me for a moment.

"Would you mind introducing yourself?" Gerald asked the hedgehog.

The hedgehog looked at him before turning his attention towards Maria and me again. I put a hand on my hip as the hedgehog dipped his head politely. "I am Project Shadow."

"Oh!" Maria said happily. She ran up and hugged the hedgehog tightly. "Shadow you look so cute!"

Gerald, Annie, and I didn't know what to say. Maria looked at me with a big smile on her face. "Katherine! Your little brother is so cute!"

Shadow and I shared eye contact and I laughed before running forward and giving him a hug too. Shadow looked a mixture between shocked and stunned but… also a bit amused by our behavior. He looked up at the silent Gerald and Annie before bending down and returning the hug, making it a small group hug.

Maria giggled while I smiled proudly. I looked up again at my little brother as he gave us a group hug.

Gerald sighed. "Well, that's the nicest he's been since he's woken up. Maria, Katherine. You two can keep an eye on Shadow for the rest of the day. I need a nap."

I thought I heard Shadow laugh quietly to himself while Maria and I glanced at the doctor.

**There you go people. Project SHADOW is back, Katherine and Maria have a new assignment, and everything looks happy and peaceful again… but is it? Review if you like this!**


	4. GUN

**Next chapter is here! Please: read and review if you love this story! Don't be shy! Review already! So, here's a recap: Shadow the hedgehog is now in the story, Katherine has a little brother, and Maria seems to be as cheerful as ever… how long will it stay though? READ AND FIND OUT!**

**Disclaimer= Zap, Windy, Katherine, Annie, Darren, and Scarecrow belong to mwah. Everything else belongs to SEGA.**

**Chapter Four: G.U.N.**

"Did you hear something?"

"Hear what?"

"Shhh!"

Katherine glanced out the nearby air conditioning vent, her heart beating so loudly she was almost positive that Shadow could hear it as he sat next to her. The two glanced out the vent and were silent, both of their ears straining to hear a sound.

"Yah!" A voice yelled out behind them.

Katherine let out a squeak while Shadow jumped a good foot off the ground, his head banging into the top of the chamber they were in while they saw Maria climbing into the chamber next to them. Shadow kicked open the vent and scrambled out while his sister followed him. The two landed on the ground and Shadow looked at his shoes, the same ones Katherine tried out a few weeks back.

"Professor Robotnik attached rockets to the end of these to help me run faster." Shadow said to Katherine as the two scrambled to their feet and booked it down the hall from the air vent Maria started climbing out of.

"Like you don't run fast enough already!" Katherine laughed. She had seen some of the tests Gerald and the other professors did on him to test his agility, strength, speed, and even chaos abilities.

Shadow rolled his crimson eyes. "Either way, I haven't tested them out yet. Want to try them out?"

"How can I try them out when you're wearing—" Katherine was cut off short by Shadow picking her up effortlessly, wedding style. Katherine struggled to get out of his grip but he held on tighter as his shoes suddenly started sparking. The two flew down the hall faster then ever, slid alongside the wall and then continued skating alongside a longer hallway.

"Well… they work!" Shadow said loudly so Katherine could hear him.

Katherine rolled her eyes as they slid to a stop. Shadow set his sister down and as soon as her feet were on solid ground, Katherine stumbled and fell. She panted as she laid on the ground, still a bit shocked at the speed they flew at.

Shadow looked back. "Do you think we lost her…?"

Katherine sat up and looked at him before shrugging. Suddenly, she got tackled from the sidelines as Maria dropped down from the ceiling, squishing her. Maria let out an evil laugh. "Bwah hahaha! I got you, Katherine! Now you're it!"

"Hey!" Katherine groaned as Maria got off her. "No fair! How did you find us?"

"You two loudmouths? It's obvious your related because of how loud you two talk and I can't reveal how I caught up to you. A magician never reveals her secrets!" Maria laughed.

"I am not a loudmouth." Shadow muttered.

Katherine and Maria took their turns to laugh while Shadow crossed his arms for a moment and then joined in the laughter.

"Maria?" A voice called out from behind. All three of us looked back to see Gerald walking towards them. "Maria, I need you to come with me real quick. Shadow, Katherine, I want you two to stay out of sight. Stay in one of the rooms until I or another professor comes and gets you." He said seriously.

Katherine blinked in surprise. This had to be one of the rare times she had seen him so serious and nervous about something. Whatever was going on it had to be bad. Katherine glanced at Shadow before looking at the doctor again. "Is something wrong?"

"I'll explain everything later. Just, please, don't cause any trouble." Gerald begged.

Katherine nodded slowly as Gerald took his granddaughter's hand and led her away from us. Maria glanced back at her two friends before turning a corner and was gone, leaving Shadow and Katherine alone. The siblings looked at each other silently for a moment.

"Well?" Shadow finally asked, breaking the silence.

**Katherine's POV**

"What?" I said, trying to sound innocent.

"I know what you're planning so what do I have to do?"

I sighed in defeat. Shadow was starting to know me _too_ well. He would've done great in the Light Givers' training operations in my dimension. "Alright, you got me. How well are you in the art of stealth?"

"As good as a ninja."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm as good as a ninja when it comes to the art of stealth."

I rolled my eyes. Shadow was starting to get the same sense of humor as me too. "Good, then let's follow and see how bad our situation really is. But we can't be spotted. I don't want to get grounded by Gerald again after what happened last time when _someone_…"

"Hey!" Shadow interrupted, crossing his arms and glaring at me, but a playful light was shining in his eyes. "It wasn't me who decided to make owl sounds."

"I thought it would make us inconspicuous!" I cried. "Besides, you were the one that fell out of that artificial tree!"

Shadow laughed but stopped short when we both heard footsteps coming down the hall. We both looked over nervously before jumping upwards into the air vent Maria had hopped out of to crash into me. Shadow closed the gate that usually prevented people from going in and we huddled together, looking at the ground as the footsteps grew louder beneath us.

"So what's this Ultimate Life Form supposed to look like?" One of them said. It was obviously male from the way it talked with his deep voice. He sounded bored, almost as if he did this daily and was tired of it.

I glanced at a nervous Shadow before looking back down again.

"I don't know," Another voice sighed, also male. "But whatever it is, I hope it looks much better than Project Night. That thing looked weird."

The two walked underneath us and Shadow clasped a hand quickly over my mouth before I could let out a squeak of fear. Neither of them were in the usual lab coats. Both of them wore camouflage military uniforms with bullet proof vests over them. They had a large display of guns and knives in many of their pockets and both were holding midnight black shotguns in their hands. The owner of the first voice who was on the right hand side spoke up, his black hair a mess. "Project Night _was_ a weird looking thing. I'm just glad they finally got rid of it."

"Hopefully when we find Project Shadow he looks better _and_ is smarter than Project Night was." The owner of the second voice chimed in, the man on the left hand side. He was bald so his shiny head reflected the lights on the ceiling. Both stopped directly underneath us and looked around.

"Well, I don't see anything labeled 'Project Shadow' here. Next hallway?" The first voice man asked.

The bald man just shrugged and they walked away. As soon as both of us couldn't hear them anymore we both hopped out of the air vent and turned to each other nervously. "What could they possibly want with you?" I demanded.

Shadow shook his head looking a little irritated that he didn't know the answer to this question. "I thought only the people on this ship knew that I was the Ultimate Life Form." Shadow said dryly. He crossed his arms and looked off in the direction the two men went before looking at me again.

"Guess not," I said slowly. "Now I'm not sure if it's a good thing to go find Gerald and Maria if people here are looking for you."

Shadow sighed. "Don't worry about me, Katherine. Don't forget, I'm as stealthy as a ninja."

I face palmed while Shadow grinned.

"Whatever… okay come on, let's go figure out what's going on. Don't let any of those guys with guns find you."

"Or you," Shadow added. "You don't exactly look like a scientist either."

I nodded, seeing his point. People could accidently mistake me for the Ultimate Life Form too, especially with my unnaturally large ears. We were both in the same boat at this point. Shadow and I then started walking down the hall, carefully listening for other men like the two back there.

"I wonder who they work for." I finally said after a few minutes of silence.

Shadow nodded in agreement, looking thoughtful, but said nothing.

After a few more twists and turns, I heard voices coming from behind a door. Shadow and I stopped and looked at the door before cautiously moving up to it. I pressed an ear on the door while Shadow did the same. It took only a moment for their voices to become clear to both of us.

"If you do not hand us over the Ultimate Life Form then there's going to be some minor difficulties for you, Gerald." Someone said angrily.

There was a moment of silence until a familiar voice spoke up. "You can't touch Shadow! He hasn't done anything to you!"

Shadow and I looked at each other as a single thought passed through our mind: _Maria._ That was Maria's voice.

"We'll tear down this place if we have to. Project Shadow is a dangerous creation. It cannot be trusted!" The voice from before said.

"Whatever!" I hissed quietly. Shadow looked just as annoyed as I felt.

Gerald spoke up. "Commander Towers, I cannot have you take Shadow. He is here to help my granddaughter."

"Blah, blah, blah," The first voice belonging to a man named Commander Towers said stubbornly. "He's a danger to society. Millions of people come first before one simple person. And don't even get me started on the other thing you have. What are you calling it? Project Dimension or something like that?"

I twitched my ears. Wait, did these people know I was from another dimension? And who came up with the name Project Dimension anyways? What kind of name was _that_?

Gerald sighed. "She's no threat either. They are both very kind souls. G.U.N. does not need to be involved with any of this."

Commander Towers spoke up next. "G.U.N. is only here to make sure Projects Shadow and Dimension are no threat to mankind."

"They are not!" Gerald said angrily.

"When my men find them and bring them here we'll see about that." Commander Towers said. I heard movement inside the room and my eyes widened. I grabbed onto Shadow, concentrated, felt the world turn upside down and then right side up way to quickly and we found ourselves in an air vent above the door.

Shadow stuck his tongue out, obviously still hating the feeling of teleporting. "Chaos Control is such an easier experience to go through. Warn me next time." He muttered.

"Shhh!" I hissed to him, bringing a finger to my lips as the door opened underneath us.

A tall man stepped out. His hair was a greasy gray color and he scanned the room. He wore the same clothes as the two men we saw earlier did. Except, the only weapon he had was a pistol in his pocket and a knife in another one. I narrowed my eyes as he glanced around the hallway before turning his attention to the people inside. "You five stay in here with Stanly until we find the two projects were looking for, but mainly Project Shadow. Then we'll talk again."

The door closed and the man whose voice belonged to Commander Towers turned his attention to two men running towards him. I recognized them as the ones that stopped to talk to us awhile earlier. "What news?" Was all he said as both men stopped and saluted him.

"Sir, we haven't found any signs of Project Shadow." The messy black haired one said.

"And Project Dimension?"

"Last seen running around the halls, according to other scientists." The bald man added.

I laughed quietly and Shadow smiled beside me.

"Good, keep up your search. I want them alive. But that doesn't mean you can beat them up a little. Keep that in mind too." Commander Towers said, and that made the smile slide off of Shadow's and mine faces.

"Sir, yes sir!" Both men chanted, as if they've done this for longer than either could remember. They turned and then ran down the hallway while Commander Towers marched away. I growled angrily to myself while Shadow looked just as irritated. "Beat them up a bit?" He demanded as soon as Tower's was out of sight.

"Don't worry, Shadow. I'll make sure no one touches you today." I growled.

Shadow grabbed my arm and chaos controlled us before the door again. We looked at each other and nodded quietly. We needed to get in. We needed our questions answered. Even if there was some guy named Stanly in here we needed some things desperately.

Shadow waved a hand and the automatic door opened, revealing a stunning sight of Maria, Gerald, Scarecrow, Darren, and Annie tied up in ropes. In the other corner was a man in military uniform with a gun trained on them. I wasn't sure who that shocked or scared more: Shadow or me.

The man, who had to be Stanly, turned his gun on us. I glanced at the gun as Shadow took a step forward to charge the man, but I stopped him with a hand. "Stand down Stanly." I said seriously. As soon as I spoke, Stanly let out a small squeal and dropped the gun before lifting his hands into the air. Both of us walked in and I closed the door as Shadow ran up to Maria.

"Are you okay?" Shadow demanded as he went behind her to untie the ropes around her wrists.

I glanced at Stanly as he picked up a radio but he stopped when he saw me glaring at him. "Put the radio down too, Stanly." I growled.

Stanly dropped the radio on the ground next to his gun before lifting his hands into the air again, whimpering ever so slightly. I ran up to Maria and Shadow before untying the other doctors. "What are you doing here?" Gerald demanded. "I told you two to stay out of here."

I laughed nervously. "About that…"

Gerald sighed, knowing that there was no use in continuing this.

Annie shook her head. "You know this is dangerous, right?"

"Commander Towers can do all he wants and I wouldn't care at the least." I growled. "How did you know I was from another dimension?"

There was a moment of silence as Maria and Shadow stared at me in shock while the other scientists stared at me quietly.

Gerald shook his head. "I'll have to show you in a minute… but until then you must go."

I looked at Annie's ropes in my hands. "But I just untied you though!"

Gerald gave me a look and I sighed, dropping the ropes onto the ground. I looked back at Stanly who stopped reaching for the radio as soon as he saw me looking at him again. With one more look at Gerald, Maria grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. She led Shadow and I down the hallway and through a few twists and turns until we stopped and hid in the Star Gazing room, showing a view of Earth.

Shadow crossed his arms and stood next to the door. I stood on the other side of the door while Maria sat on the ground before us. She looked at us and we looked at her silently until she broke into tears.

"Maria?" I asked, frowning. "What's wrong?"

"It's not fair!" Maria wailed.

Shadow moved forward and bent down next to her. "What isn't fair?"

Maria wiped away a tear. "Commander Towers wants to take you and Katherine back down to Earth with him. They want to do painful experiments on both of you! It's not fair! Neither of you have done anything bad! Katherine's not even from here and they still want to do tests! Shadow, you're barely a few weeks old! They can't just take you two and do tests on you! You're my friends!"

I froze. Tests? I was always scared of normal math tests Zap gave me. But this kind of test? As in with dangerous chemicals like we were lab rats? Was that even humane?

Shadow looked just as scared but managed to hide it. "They won't touch us, Maria, see?"

I looked at the planet Earth spinning silently in space while Shadow and Maria turned to look at it too. Maria forced a smile and wiped away more tears. "You know, one day we can all go to Earth! Well... that's what grandfather says at least..." She said slowly, trying to force her happiness and changing the conversation.

"Humph! I don't see why it's taking him so long to let us go down there. He's been promising that since I've been awake. But with Commander Towers now here I'm not sure if it's ever going to be possible for us to go as tourists." Shadow said seriously.

I decided that now was the time to speak up. "Don't worry about it, sometimes the Earth isn't a pretty place. There's lots of wars and suffering..."

"I bet it's not always that bad, Katherine." Maria said softly, staring at the planet with big blue eyes.

There was a moment of silence as I thought over what Maria said. "Well... yeah. There are some peaceful moments on there. Maybe you're right."

Maria laughed. "See Katherine? All things aren't as bad as you think they are!"

"Like Commander Towers using us as experiments?" Shadow said dryly.

"Don't worry Shadow." Maria said boldly. She was starting to get her confidence back both Shadow and I could see that. "Grandfather will talk the G.U.N. Commander out of it!"

Shadow said nothing as we all continued to stare at the silent, spinning ball known as Earth. I shook my head and moved away from the door, standing next to Maria and a silent Shadow. "What will we do when they find us?"

"If they find us." Maria corrected hopefully.

The door suddenly flew open and a bunch of military officers marched into the room. They made a ring around us and Maria let out a small scream. Shadow stood behind her and lifted his fists while I drummed my sword handle, looking at the guns pointed at us.

Then, through the door and past the small ring, Commander Towers marched forward. When I saw his eyes, I felt my ears slowly going flat in fear. His eyes were almost pure black… and looked soulless. Instinctively, I grabbed Shadow's hand and let go of my sword handle and grabbed Maria's with my other hand. Towers noticed the movement and smirked.

"Next time when you run off with an escape, remember to take off their tracking device." Towers said, nodding at a metal bracelet around Maria's hand that I didn't see before. Maria looked at it in surprise and shock.

Towers continued after a moment of stunned silence. "But now that I've found you, Project Shadow; you're never going to escape from my clutches ever again."

**DUN DUN DUN! Cliffhanger! Okay next story will come out soon- hopefully. See you all when the next story comes around. Thanks for the reviews so far and post more **_**please**_**!**

**Windy "What's with you and cliffhangers?"**

**Me "What? I'm good at them!"**


	5. Runaway Projects

**Hey people! Welcome to Chapter Five and thanks for reading so far. I give you a warning now to those of you with not very strong stomachs: fight scene coming up and this book IS rated T. Anyways besides that, hope you enjoy!**

**Also, thanks to the following reviewers on Dimension Jumpers and this story too that were posted recently: Maraya Prower (haha, yeah. I added the flashback in the story :P and here's one of the major fight scenes.) and lydiathetigeropean (thanks! And yes… this is going to be a tear jerker). So, if you want to be thanked then review now! Don't worry, I don't bite at reviewers. I just thank them.**

**Windy "And Maraya, I'm still not giving you that hug."**

**Me "She said she'd get one someday."**

**Windy "…"**

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**anything**_** that belongs to SEGA. If I did, then Katherine, Windy, Zap, and Sierra would be totally awesome characters to play haha. Anyways, if you don't recognize the characters in any games, TV shows, etc. then it belongs to me.**

**Chapter Five: Runaway Projects**

Katherine looked back at her wrists, tied tightly behind her back with ropes. She looked forward at Gerald, Maria, Darren, Scarecrow, and Shadow all around her with ropes that kept their hands tied behind their back. They were kneeling before the stadium and all that remained of Project Night was his claws on the ground.

However, the most intimidating thing was the giant metal robot in the middle of the room. It was on shutdown but that didn't make it any less intimidating.

"Don't break out of your bonds no matter what." Gerald suddenly whispered. He had scooted his way next to Shadow, Katherine, and Maria.

"What? Why not?" Katherine demanded.

"I don't see any danger in not trying to survive and not becoming test experiments!" Shadow spat angrily.

"They are trying to see if you are a threat." Gerald explained gravely. "If you attack and break free, you are an obvious threat. No matter what _do not fight._"

**Katherine's POV**

Shadow lowered his head and I glared at the robot in the middle of the room.

"Project Shadow? How about you first?" Commander Towers said. He moved up to Shadow and me before giving a dark grin at us. I felt uncontrollable rage build up in me as he ordered his men to untie Shadow. As soon as my brother was untied they pushed him into the main room with the shutdown robot.

"Don't fight Shadow!" Maria cried out.

"Shut up!" A G.U.N. officer growled. He lifted a foot to kick her but I growled threateningly like a dog. The officer stepped down while Gerald gave me a serious look.

"No fighting." He whispered to me.

I turned my head away from him angrily as Towers stood next to me. He stroked one of my ears gently as he pressed a button on part of his small box-like controller. He then leaned down and whispered words into my ear that I would never forget. "Let's see how strong Project Shadow is when his remains are scattered all over the floor."

I paled and looked back at Shadow as Towers let go of my ear.

The robot in the middle of the room suddenly moved and stood up. It was about the size of a house and its arms were the size of school buses which had multiple different weapons on them. The legs were just as long as its arms and claws were what should've been feet and toes. Its unblinking red eyes stared down at Shadow, who looked so small. It was like a chipmunk versing Godzilla in this situation.

"Shadow…" I whispered quietly as Towers stood up tall beside me.

Shadow looked back at us and I swore I saw fear in his eyes. He was trembling slightly and I felt my sisterly instincts kicked in. He was scared. The only family member I had was scared and if I didn't do something he was going to die.

Gerald's words came back to me. _"Do not fight_." He had said seriously. I looked for a loophole to get out of this situation. I looked at the robot as it lifted a clawed foot to squash Shadow flat into the ground.

"SHADOW!" I yelled as Gerald's words of warning flew out of my head. I yanked at the ropes behind me and they snapped in half. I rolled forward and teleported in front of Shadow before anyone could even get an idea of what just happened.

I glared up at the huge monster, feeling my heart pounding as it glared back down at me. "You overgrown bucket!" I growled. "Pick on someone your own size and leave my brother _alone_. I promised not to fight but I'll knock those eyes out of their sockets if I have too. I knock you out so hard that Windy _herself_ will have to consider what just happened!"

Shadow hopped forward from behind me and stood by my side, lifting his fists. "We'll work together." He said to me and I nodded in agreement.

"SHADOW! KATHERINE! I said don't fight!" Gerald's furious voice roared out behind us.

"I don't know," I said slowly, not looking back. "Is it considered fighting when you're defending yourself? What do you think, Shadow?"

Shadow looked at me, the mischievous glint in his eyes still there, even after his fear of standing up to the robot before us. "Well… defending yourself isn't exactly fighting."

I smiled at him and we both turned to the monster. "You take the right, I'll get the left." I said to him.

Shadow nodded and we shot off in different directions. The robot spun, obviously confused on which direction to go to. I ducked as the monster finally shot missiles at Shadow and me. The missiles sailed over my head as Shadow threw a Chaos Spear at the monster and it went right through the machine like it was made of plastic.

The robot fell to its knees… and then exploded into a million pieces. It started raining metal as Shadow and I looked at the sky in shock as we slid to a stop. "That was easy." Shadow said crossing his arms. "Wonder what I was so worried about."

Commander Towers marched forward proudly. "Ah ha! You two really are a danger to society! You took down one of the mightiest machines we had and disobeyed your creator's orders!"

"Creators?" I echoed, shocked by the comment.

Shadow clenched his fists. "We weren't disobeying orders! We were protecting ourselves!"

"Silence!" Towers roared. He calmed himself by taking a deep breath and moving steadily towards us. "I saw what I saw. You two are now going to come down to Earth and become my test experiments. The Ultimate Life Form must help the rest of mankind become ultimate as well. And you, little Miss Dimension… we'll figure out how you're able to survive in this dimension without burning up on the spot."

I gritted my teeth as Towers snapped his fingers. "Take them away!"

"No!" Maria wailed.

"Shadow!" I yelled as I grabbed my brother's hand. The G.U.N. officers then surrounded us quickly, with their guns raised. Shadow and I stood back to back, looking around as the officers moved in closer and closer.

"What's the plan, Katherine?" Shadow demanded, his gloved hand was threatening to pop my fingers off because of how tightly he was holding onto my hand.

"I'm thinking… I'm thinking!" I yelled. What would Windy or Zap do in these kinds of situations? Then again, as I thought about it; I had never seen either one of them get framed for something they didn't do. Oh, I should've listened to Gerald! I should've! Now Shadow and I were going to be test labs… wait.

The thought of the girl Windy and I hunted down for years popped up in my mind. _Sierra_… I thought. Sierra had been caught up in _millions_ of these situations. What would she have done? Oh… I know. And Gerald was going to kill me about this plan later.

"We're going to Sierra our way out of this." I said to Shadow.

"Sierra our way… what?" Shadow looked back at me in disbelief.

"Go get the scientists and get out of here!" I yelled at him as I pulled out my sword, scaring half the G.U.N. agents to near death. Shadow Chaos Controlled his way over to the others and started untying their ropes while I swung my sword in a full circle, slicing the front part of all their guns, making them all useless.

Except, that didn't stop the officers, they dropped the guns and grabbed other weapons from their pockets. The officer with the bald head Shadow and I saw long ago lunged forward with his knife. I ducked down as another officer shot their gun. It hit the officer and the bald man dropped dead to the ground next to me.

I let out a startled scream as his lifeless eyes looked at me before scrambling back as a line of bullets appeared on the ground where I was. I spared a moment to look back and saw Shadow chaos control everyone out of the chaos. I let out a sigh of relief until I felt a stinging feeling in my arm. I cried out and glanced at the dagger impaled in my arm.

"Who the heck threw the…" I couldn't finish my sentence, ducking as a G.U.N. officer tried tackling me.

I spun round and round, dodging bullets, flying knives, and even fists. I was broken and scratched all over. My energy was slowly fading out; I couldn't keep this up forever, so much for going all Sierra, even though Sierra normally ran away in the end. I tried running, but that led to more officers blocking my way. I even tried _teleporting _and that didn't work either.

I finally was tackled to the ground and my hands were yanked behind my back. Commander Towers marched up to me, a smirk on his ugly... little… oh I should just get on with the story, face. As he leaned down at me, I spat in his face. Bull's eye! Right in between the eyes.

I glared at him as Towers coolly wiped the saliva off his face. He looked at me again before laughing quietly. "A little rebel, aren't you? I cannot wait to rip that out of your soul."

"You'd dare hurt someone that's not from here?" I hissed back.

"That considers you an alien. We do this to aliens too." Towers sneered.

"You can't just use my brother and me as experiments! We have our own rights and needs too!" I yelled at him, all my frustration seemed to pour out of my mouth as I continued. "I came here so Shadow could live. Shadow is here so Maria can get better. Can't you see we all just want to live a normal life with you people? Can't you see our rights and needs too? We're not animals! You can't just do this to us! We deserve the right to live! We—"

I was cut short as Towers smacked me across the face. "Silence, rat. You two are monsters. You killed my men, destroyed a robot like it was nothing, disobeyed orders, and now here you are demanding for your rights."

My face stung but I managed to glare at Towers once again. "You'll regret this." I growled angrily to him.

"I think not," Towers shrugged, "Now… if you'd please surrender and show us where Project Shadow and the other scientists went I would be most grateful."

There was a flash of light and a sneaker came in contact with the side of Tower's face. Towers flew out of the way as none other than Shadow the hedgehog dropped down before me. He looked at the officers around me, slid forward, and kicked the guy that held me hostage. He looked me in the eye and I felt tears form in my eyes. "Shadow…"

"Shhh…" Shadow said comfortingly. He grabbed my shoulder and closed his eyes. "Chaos Control…" He whispered and we suddenly appeared on the sixth abandoned floor in front of a large door. The door opened and Maria ran out.

"Shadow? Katherine!" She slid forward and hugged me, cuts and all. I snapped the ropes in half myself and hugged Maria back, tears dripping down my face. The image of Towers sneering in my face was fresh in my mind and it didn't help calm me down at all.

"Maria…!" I sobbed.

Gerald ran out the door. "Alright, we need to perform some tests on you Katherine and fix you up. Don't worry, you'll be back to normal soon."

Tests… wait hold on, tests? Towers! "No!" I screamed as Gerald picked me up. I started flailing around in Gerald's arms as he walked into the room towards a small white bed in the middle of the room. "No! No! No! You can't test on me! Don't test on any of us! We're innocent! We didn't do anything! You've got to believe me!"

"I know you are," Gerald whispered. "You're not a test subject. You're a living person just like the rest of us are."

"Shadow!" I screamed. "SHADOW!"

"Calm down!" Annie's voice said as they laid me on the bed. "Everything is going to be fine! Katherine!"

I continued thrashing about as Maria and Shadow peaked in through the doorway to watch. I looked at them, tears still rolling down my face. I couldn't think straight for some weird reason. I was starting to see images of G.U.N. officers moving around the room. Then suddenly, in between Maria and Shadow a sudden familiar person seemed to appear.

"Windy…?" I whispered faintly. I stopped moving instantly and stared into her forest green colored eyes.

Gerald leaned down by my ear. "What?"

"_Katherine,"_ Windy said, her voice sounded distant, far away but also right before me at the same time. She crossed her arms and stared at me seriously. _"You're stronger than this. You let Towers get on your nerves and see where it led you? Flipping out about the little things."_

"But…"

"_No buts… control yourself. You're stronger than this. Don't let him get into your head. You can fight him. You are a Light Giver after all… and my friend."_

I closed my eyes as sudden exhaustion hit me. "I'm sorry…" I whispered quietly to everyone until I finally passed out.

**Windy "Cliffhanger? AGAIN?"**

**Katherine "She is good at writing them."**

**Zap "Bet **_**I**_** could do better."**

**Windy and Katherine "Whatever!"**

**Windy "Besides, I don't think you can even write a story."**

**Zap "…"**

**Me "Well, next chapter will come out soon! Don't forget to review or else Zap will try writing his own first story… and that should be very scary."**

**Zap *glares***


	6. To Earth

** Here's Chapter Six and this one is a chapter with a lot of important info that's needed for later chapters. So, therefore read and enjoy! And don't forget to review! :D**

**Chapter Six: To Earth**

_Shadow's POV_

I looked at the cards before me. Go Fish with Face Cards; what a strange game. Maria on the other side of me glanced at her cards before looking at me suspiciously. "Do you have any… Kings?"

Another glance at my cards revealed a King of Hearts. I sighed and pushed the card across the table as Maria giggled excitedly, taking the card. I looked behind me at the small white bed where my unconscious sister laid. She had a breathing mask over her mouth and her eyes were flickering, indicating that she was dreaming. The heart monitor beeped steadily, reassuring me she was still alive.

"Don't worry about her, Shadow. She's fine." Maria said comfortingly.

"I wonder what she saw to make her panic like that." I said quietly.

Maria said nothing and looked at her cards, "Your turn." She finally said.

I continued, ignoring her comment. "Gerald said as soon as she woke up he was going to explain. Like how Katherine is from another dimension and all those confusing questions. I don't understand how she's able to live through all of this. Professor Robotnik said he had a plan to get rid of the G.U.N. officers too, but what could it possibly be?"

"Shadow!" Maria smiled and I looked back at her in surprise. "Stop worrying! Grandfather promised he'd tell us and he will. He hasn't broken a promise to me yet!"

I slammed my fist on the table, startling Maria. "I cannot stand sitting here and waiting! When is she going to wake up? I have my own questions to ask too!"

"Shadow!"

"Sorry… you have any Aces?"

"Nope, go fish."

I pulled a Seven of Clubs out of the pile and sighed as I added it to my collection of cards. This game was taking forever.

Suddenly, the chair next to me was pulled away from the table. I didn't even look at the newcomer as their tan colored hands grabbed a couple of cards before sitting down. "Maria, you got any Queens?" Katherine said weakly.

"Welcome back, Katherine." Maria smiled as she pushed a Queen in her direction.

I looked over at my sister as she stared at the cards. Her blue eyes looked a little clouded, not their normal cheery self. Her skin was a bit pale, but it was hard to tell with her tan colored fur. The cards in her hands shook faintly as she stared at her cards. She noticed me staring and gave me one of her famous _what-are-you-looking-at_ looks and I quickly looked down at my cards.

"How are you feeling?" Maria asked.

"Good," Katherine muttered quietly. "I'm sorry for flipping out a while ago… however long ago that was."

"Five days."

Katherine groaned. "What is it with me being out for the longest time ever?"

I cracked a smile. Sick or not, she still had that strange sense of humor. "Katherine, you got any Aces?" I asked. "And I forgive you. What Towers did to you was wrong."

Katherine shuddered at the name as she passed an Ace over.

Maria smiled. "Grandfather's coming back. He and the other scientists are trying to see if G.U.N. gave up looking for us."

"Doubt it," Katherine muttered as the door opened.

Gerald and the other scientists walked in, all of them looking winded and they closed the door tightly behind them before gathering around the table, watching us play our game.

"Got any more Kings for me, Shadow?" Maria asked.

I groaned. How did she know? I passed another King over while Maria smiled, taking it before turning to her grandfather. "What's the news?"

Gerald sighed, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "G.U.N. is still here. And they're getting impatient. It's only a matter of time until they start searching up here too."

"Alright then, until they come I want my questions answered." Katherine said coldly. I turned to her in surprise, I never heard her use this tone of voice. She gave Gerald a dark look before glancing back at her cards. "How did you know I wasn't from this dimension?"

Gerald sighed and looked at Annie, who nodded. She pulled a small box from her pocket and placed it in the center of the table, on top of the pile of cards. The three of us playing Go Fish frowned at the box. "What's that?" Maria asked.

"Open the box, Katherine." Gerald ordered.

Katherine stood up, took the box, and cautiously opened the lid. As soon as it was opened, I frowned at the surprised look on Katherine's face. She then cautiously pulled out a white emerald with an unknown black mass in the center of it. "What's this?"

"This… is part of your soul." Gerald explained.

Katherine stared at him so Gerald continued. "When we first found you and brought you up on the ARK, you were obviously sick. We tried everything we knew but you were burning up on the inside. We almost gave up on you until Professor Sanderson over here came up with an idea."

Scarecrow coughed and Gerald nodded at him to start talking. "I remembered reading ancient documents about people that came from other worlds and how they would get sick like this. The way they would heal them was transport their soul into a new body so they could survive. What we did in this situation… was much more dangerous.

"We decided to move part of your soul into an emerald, like the Chaos Emeralds I'm sure you've seen Shadow use to be able to learn his chaos abilities. Emeralds are powerful shapes, able to store more energy than any other. We made a machine that was able to transport part of your soul into the emerald so that you could be able to live in this dimension."

Darren continued the story, interrupting Scarecrow. He was obviously feeling left out. "Well, so then all of us transported part of your soul into this emerald here- which is the black mass in the middle- and because the emerald was made here it helped that part of your soul become here. Therefore, that's how you're still alive. Also, with the emerald you are able to make your soul one again and use powerful attacks. And the ancient documents obviously pointed you weren't from here and you DNA did the same. RNA and DNA normally don't mix very well…"

"Also," Annie added. "There was a letter in your pocket saying 'good luck in the new dimension' from someone named Zap. That was an obvious way for us to know you weren't from this dimension."

Katherine scowled, seeming to secretly start hating this person named Zap.

I turned to the professors. "Am I part other dimension too? So if I went to her dimension I would be perfectly fine?"

All of them nodded.

Maria lifted a hand. "Okay, so what about G.U.N.? They're still here so what are we going to do?"

All scientists looked nervously at each other while Katherine hissed my name. I looked at her and saw a cocky light shining once again in her eyes. She seemed to be getting better by the second. "You got any Queens?"

I rolled my eyes and passed her a Queen while Gerald coughed nervously. "Well… I have a plan. But no one's going to like it and it could backfire very easily."

Silence was his only answer so Gerald continued nervously. "Well… our only plan now is to go to Earth."

"To Earth?" Maria echoed. The light in her eyes was unmistakable; she was excited to go already.

I looked at Gerald while he nodded slowly. "Yes… to Earth. We can build a base down there so everyone won't worry about an NIDS outbreak, live in peace and quiet, have no more G.U.N. chasing us, it would be like a dream come true for all of us."

It did sound like a dream come true. I could already see myself down there, walking alongside the beach with Maria jumping around in the water and Katherine sunbathing. I blinked, but it also sounded _too_ good to be true. "But…?" I asked.

Gerald sighed. "If G.U.N. captures any of you before you make it to the escape pods there is no way for the rest of us to save you. You're a goner, as I hate to say it."

The room was deadly quiet until Katherine stood up, holding her emerald tightly in one hand while lifting a fist. "I'll take the risk."

I stood up. "And so will I."

Maria smiled and stood as well. "I will too if my friends are going. Even if G.U.N. captures me I'll always be happy to know that my friends and family made it out of here safe and sound."

"Same here," Katherine smiled.

I nodded in agreement while the professors sighed out in relief. Gerald clapped his hands together. "Okay, here's the plan. Annie, Shadow, and Maria will be one group heading towards the escape pods from the far left side of the ARK. Katherine, myself, and Sanderson will be the other group coming in from the right side. Maria, Shadow? Your group should reach the escape pods first so don't bother waiting for us three, just go. We'll team up again on Earth."

"What about Darren?" Maria frowned, looking at the professor.

Darren sighed. "I got nothing on Earth. No family, all my friends are here, so I'll be a distraction to G.U.N."

Maria gasped. "But you could be killed!"

Darren smiled at her. "It's like you said. Even if G.U.N. gets me I'll be fine knowing all of you made it on Earth. Besides, Maria, I'll be careful."

Katherine sighed. "But who's going to offer the lamest things to invent?"

"What? A chipmunk tail would still be a cool thing for Shadow to have! Why do you think that's lame?" Darren cried.

I blinked slowly, wishing I hadn't heard that.

"Anyways," Gerald coughed. "We're leaving in a few hours. So pack your belongings and get ready to go."

I looked at Katherine as everyone else moved off to gather their things. During the days Katherine had been out, Gerald and the other professors stopped by all our rooms to get our things. Everything we owned was now in this small lab, the same lab Project Night was created in.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Fine…" Katherine said slowly, fiddling with the emerald in her hands and then she looked at me. "What happens if things go by badly?"

"Things won't go by as badly." I said seriously.

Katherine frowned and looked at the small little bed in the middle of the room. "Then why am I having a bad feeling about this, Shadow?"

I said nothing, for there was nothing for me to say at the moment.

**There you go! Another chapter finished! Hope you enjoyed it (I wouldn't know if you don't review people, so please do and maybe Windy will give you a hug then :P). Anyways, see you all when the next chapter comes around (hopefully soon). Later!**

**-And… I think you all know why Katherine's having a bad feeling about this-**


	7. Maria's Promise

**Hello fellow readers and welcome to Chapter Seven. Keep in mind that if you haven't reviewed then… please do so now! Either way: enjoy the story and here's to my most loyal reviewers: lydiathetigeropean and Maraya Prower. Thanks you guys so much for reviewing!**

**Lydirathetigeropean= Thanks for reviewing so many times :) and… yes. Maria will die soon. Sadly, even though I enjoy writing and reading about her.**

**Maraya Prower= Haha yes, Zap can be a dummy like that although that's what makes him such an awesome character. And yes, I didn't really want to post up this chapter but I had too at the same time so... I posted it.**

** Katherine "We'll be careful!"**

** Shadow "Until now…"**

** Windy "And NO hugs."**

** Katherine "Face it Windy, you're going to get a hug eventually."**

** Windy "…."**

**Chapter Seven: Maria's Promise**

_Katherine's POV_

"Be safe, you hear me?" Katherine whispered in Shadow's ear as they gave each other a final hug.

"I will, I promise." Shadow quietly said to her.

"And keep an eye on Maria too."

"I promise."

Katherine let go of Shadow as the hedgehog waved farewell before skating out the door to catch up with Maria and Annie. Katherine waved farewell to nobody as Gerald put a hand on her shoulder. "It's time for us to leave too… are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Katherine muttered. She didn't like the feeling she had in her stomach. The possibility of not surviving by the end of this day was quite high. The fact that she wasn't there to help protect Shadow and Maria unnerved her but she knew she had to have faith in them.

_They'll be fine…_ Katherine thought. _Shadow is made out of some of your cells so that technically makes him another you._

Scarecrow led the way out of the room with Gerald and Katherine cautiously following him. They moved down the right hallway, careful to keep an eye out for any G.U.N. officers. Scarecrow pulled a small remote out of his pocket and pressed a button, making all the lights go dim.

_First person- Katherine's POV_

"I'll lead," Gerald said. He took my hand in his and led me down the hallway with Scarecrow right behind me. I held my breath as we moved along silently. I felt like something was going to jump out of the walls at any moment, like a ghost.

My left hand was tightly holding onto my sword handle while my right hand was in Gerald's grip. We both froze when we heard the laughter of men, and all of us knew they weren't fellow scientists. The other scientists had been arrested a few days ago, Gerald said so himself. Other voices were now most likely G.U.N. officers wanting to kill Shadow and anyone else on the spot.

We all backed against the wall as I saw flashlights moving through the room. Gerald looked back, knowing that backtracking wasn't an option. Then, out of a side hallway, Darren jumped forward. "Hey guys! Bet you can't catch me! I'm as fast as Gerald is smart! Na, na, na!"

"Hey! He's one of the scientists!" A G.U.N. officer yelled in disbelief.

"After him!" Another one yelled and the entire group booked after Darren. I bit my lip, feeling that was the last time I would ever saw Darren.

"Come on," Scarecrow said, leading the way now. He took my hand from Gerald and led me down the hall with Gerald behind us now. I looked down the hallway Darren booked it down and could only see flashlights moving in random directions, making it impossible to see who they were chasing or the ones that was holding them.

Down a few more twists and turns until we reached the stairs I had climbed up so long ago, saving Gerald and Maria from Project Night. We started climbing down these stairs and as we passed level four, I heard the sound I had dreaded to hear all day: a gunshot.

The three of us froze as the shot echoed through the entire building of ARK. I swear everyone on board held their breath. Off handedly I wondered if the gunshot claimed a victim. Was it Darren? Shadow? Maybe even Maria?

"Do you think…?" I started to whisper but the doors busted open above us and the sound of boots tromping down the stairs was heard above us.

"Go, go!" Gerald yelled, shoving me forward. Scarecrow, Gerald, and I booked it down the stairs and onto level three where the escape pods were on. I jumped through the door first, being faster than the two professors.

Gerald hopped through next and sudden gunshots echoed out behind us. "Where's Scarecrow?" I screamed.

"Sanderson's fine! He's going to hold off the officers!" Gerald yelled. He grabbed my hand while he ran past me. I was yanked along and I looked back at the door nervously until I heard another gunshot and a cry of pain.

"SCARECROW!" I screamed.

"Not now Katherine, get ahold of yourself!" Gerald scolded as he turned right down the hall. I heard the doors behind us burst open as more G.U.N. officers burst through the doors behind us. I heard some of them yelling into their radios for backup. The lights above our heads flashed red, indicating it was an emergency and that G.U.N. had control of our emergency systems too.

We slid to a stop as G.U.N. officers with their guns raised ran down the hall towards us. They started firing but I pulled my sword out as we retreated into a G.U. hallway before running again. I turned to Gerald angrily. "By the flipping Light Givers!" I yelled, my fear starting to get the better of me. "We're going to _die _if we don't run faster, professor!"

"Keep running, Katherine! Everything will be fine!"

"Your plan is backfiring badly!"

"I said it could!"

I gritted my teeth as we took another turn. "The escape pods aren't' far from here, it's just a little further. Shadow, Maria, and Annie should be there already." Gerald explained as we barely avoided more gunfire.

_Unless they're dead,_ I thought, even though I didn't want to admit it.

More gunfire, I managed to stop all the bullets. Gerald ran in front of me and we kept looking backwards nervously.

Suddenly, Gerald slid to a stop and I crashed into him. Gerald slowly lifted his hands in surrender as I glanced around him, finding an entire row of G.U.N. soldiers on all three sides and now some were starting to pile up behind us. We were surrounded.

For the first time ever, I almost swore but I managed to contain my frustration. Gerald put a hand on my shoulder. "Teleport out of here." He said quietly to me as we both saw Commander Towers marching towards us through the crowd in front of us.

"What? Not without you." I said angrily, obviously seeing where this was ending up. Scarecrow gone. Darren probably also gone. And Gerald? Him being gone too? And who even knew how difficult it was with Shadow, Maria, and Annie at the moment?

"I'll be fine. Go!" Gerald nudged me away from him and I shook my head stubbornly when he looked back at me. "Katherine…" he sighed. "You have to take care of Maria and Shadow. I'm sure they would want your help now. They need it. Go to the escape pods."

I gritted my teeth, trying to stop tears from dripping down my face. This man here saved my life, he gave me a home, he let his granddaughter get near me, and now here he was saving my life once again, probably for the last time. "Goodbye, professor." I whispered to him as Towers passed through the front row of guards before us.

"Goodbye Katherine. Keep my granddaughter and my son safe… and yourself too."

Son? Oh right, Gerald _was_ a weird version of Shadow's father which would technically make him my dad… before I could waste any more time on the subject I closed my eyes, vanished, and reappeared behind all the guards, behind Commander Towers, out of everyone's sight.

I silently ran down the hall while Tower's furious roar echoed behind me: "WHERE IS IT?"

I took a sharp turn to the left and continued running. The escape pods had to be somewhere around here…

BAM BAM! Gunshots echoed out behind me as I dived to the ground, sliding to a stop and hitting the metal wall before me with a sickening _bang_ that seemed to echo throughout the entire fortress.

"Oh by the…" I used my feet to slide away from the wall as bullets impaled the wall I was just at. G.U.N. officers were running towards me from behind, appearing and disappearing in the red lights from above. I raced away from the scene as soon as I could and pulled out my sword, slicing at the bullets coming towards me.

For the moment, I secretly thanked Windy showing me a thing or two about the air. The small air currents that traveled around on the ARK showed me where the bullets were and helped me used my sword to dodge them.

I lifted my hand back, concentrating on my energy and causing the entire wall to be knocked over, on top of the G.U.N. agents. I heard some of them cry out in surprise and pain as the two ton wall (yes two tons, I asked Maria once) fell over on top of them.

I looked back and sighed out in relief as I continued booking it down the hall. No more G.U.N. agents behind me anymore! I stopped all of them… for now. Now I had to use this time to get to the escape pod room. If only I knew where it was exactly, then I could teleport there. I couldn't teleport if I had never been there before, same went for Shadow's Chaos Control it was one default we both had.

With a slide around the corner, I saw a sign saying: ESCAPE PODS. I blinked in surprise and delight. Almost there! Just a few more turns and I would be there. I could go down with Shadow and Maria if they made it. Maybe even Annie too!

Another turn around the corner and I saw a door before me. I felt my spirits start to rise. There was the door! Almost there… almost there! I could practically smell the fresh breezes on a typical day that were always around in my dimension. I could finally be able see what this dimension looked like!

I stopped at the door before me and looked up at it. Before I could do anything though, it opened for me automatically, revealing a stunning sight.

Shadow was in an escape pod, looking scared and furious, banging on the glass that was the first covering of the escape pod. Maria had her hand on a switch, her eyes staring down a G.U.N. officer who had a gun pointed at her. Before I could say anything, Maria pulled the switch down, the metal doors started closing in on Shadow, and a gunshot echoed through the air… then Maria fell to the floor.

"MARIA!" Shadow and I screamed at the same time. I raced forward to my friend as the metal doors closed completely around my brother and the escape pod dropped him out into space.

The G.U.N. officer looked too stunned to do anything. He dropped the gun and stared at Maria on the ground as blood slowly started gathering on the floor.

I picked Maria up in my arms and saw her eyes were tightly closed. Her hand on her bloody chest where a small bullet hole covered with blood was. I felt tears streaming down my face in horror as I placed my hand on the bullet mark while gripping Maria's lifeless hand with the other. "Maria… I— I I'm… I'm so sorry…"

The G.U.N. officer said nothing and stared at me, his hands shaking uncontrollably. I looked over at him and we made eye contact; his blue eyes staring into my own. I gripped Maria's hand tightly and looked at the officer angrily.

"I— I I didn't…" He started to say but I stood up with my right hand raised in front of me. The echo of other G.U.N. officers' boots running towards the door behind the killer was loud and clear as a glowing object appeared in my hand.

"GET OUT!" I yelled as a sudden beam of pure white energy flew forward and smashed into the man who killed Maria and the other G.U.N. officers that tried to squish into the room. I marched forward as soon as the smoke from my energy attack faded. "You killed Maria! She was like a sister to me!"

The G.U.N. officer who killed her scrambled to his feet with the other officers and ran, all their clothes in tatters and dust smeared on their bodies. I looked at the ground as one officer didn't move and was shocked to see it was a professor instead of an officer... it was Annie, dead.

"No!" I screamed, more tears falling down my face. I turned to the officers. "Get off the ARK! NOW!"

Out of the crowd of terrified G.U.N. people, Towers marched out with a smirk on his face. "Surrender now, Katherine and we'll let Gerald live!" He called to me.

"LEAVE!" I yelled as another bolt of light shot out of my hand.

Towers had a terrified look on his face as my light beam shoot down the hallway, causing another two ton wall fall on top of them. I concentrated on another strike until I heard someone cry something out behind me.

"Katherine stop!"

I froze and looked back to see Maria on her stomach, reaching out to me with a pained look on her face. Forgetting about G.U.N. and my anger, I raced towards her, slamming the remains of the door closed in the process and slid to a stop next to her. "Maria?" I whispered.

"Katherine…" Maria whispered quietly.

Tears continued dripping down my face and onto her body. I helped her onto her back and held her hand tightly. "Maria… oh please don't go."

Maria said nothing, only staring into my eyes with a faint smile on her face. "Don't worry Katherine… I'll be going to a better place… now. I'll be with Annie… and Darren…"

I didn't have the heart to tell her about Scarecrow so I said nothing. However, my frustration was starting to get the better of me. "If only I was a better person, if I hadn't influenced Shadow to attack the robot… I mean we wouldn't be in this mess! We'd be together still. If I hadn't even came to this dimension… oh Maria! I'm so sorry! This is all my fault!"

"It's not your fault… Katherine." Maria whispered.

"Yes it is! Maria! I'm sorry!"

"Katherine!" Maria yelled, and then stopped, gasping for breath. I stopped and looked down at her in surprise.

"Katherine…" Maria said to me again but this time her voice was weaker than ever. I lifted one of her cold hands and tried to stop the tears flowing down my face. Blood was starting to form a puddle on the floor around us and the shouts of G.U.N. officials' banging on the blocked door behind us was all that could be heard besides Maria's weak voice. Apparently my attack hadn't stopped them for very long.

"What is it?" I asked her quietly.

"Have you ever taken my promises… seriously?"

"Of course!" I said in disbelief, somewhat hurt by the comment.

"Then promise me something…"

"Anything for you, Maria," I said quietly.

"Keep an eye out for… your brother. Keep him safe."

"I promise." I whispered. "….I promise."

"Don't worry… about me…" Maria continued quietly. "I'm going… to a better… place. Just move… along… and don't dwell on the past… but don't forget about me."

"I won't."

"Here… take this… it seems like I won't need it anymore." Maria held up a familiar item and I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. They rolled down my face as I picked up my white, soul emerald. It glowed faintly in my hands as I looked at Maria. I had given her this just as we said our final goodbyes in Project Night's room. I was hoping it would bring good luck… but apparently not.

"Now… go! Go! Don't… worry about me… keep Shadow… safe."

I nodded my head slowly as I stared at her, tears still falling.

"Go!"

I stumbled to my feet and moved into one of the round escape pods with the emerald in hand. I stared at her as she smiled weakly at me while the glass door separated me from her first. "Go…" She whispered as the doors of the escape pods started to close.

More tears dripped down my face as Maria closed her eyes and fell limp on the ground, breathing out a final sigh of relief. The door to the room burst open and I saw Towers march in, his G.U.N. uniform in tatters and his eyes seemed to light up with a frightening kind of fire when he saw me.

I looked at Maria's body and smiled faintly. "I promise Maria. I promise."

Then the doors closed and I felt the escape pod drop into space. I lowered my eyes at the emerald and placed a hand in my pocket where I felt smooth metal.

Confused, I pulled a small silver locket out of my pocket and opened it, revealing a picture of Maria, Shadow, and myself all smiling and looking carefree. Maria must've slipped it in there while I was too busy crying and feeling guilty. I felt more tears rolling down my face. "I'm keeping my promise for you Maria."

I closed my eyes for a moment and then stared up at the roof of the escape pod. "Sayonara… Maria Robotnik."

**Is it over? NO! Why not? Think about it, if you've read Dimension Jumpers Katherine came from her dimension over. She didn't go into the suspended animation thing like Shadow the hedgehog did. She went back to her dimension! But how? And even so, how did Shadow get into suspended animation in the first place? Therefore, Katherine's Tale is continuing… tomorrow hopefully.**

** -So read on when the next chapter comes! And don't forget to review!-**


	8. Captured

**Okay, the last chapter was seriously depressing so this one is a little bit more upbeat as Katherine tries to move along like Maria asked her to and searches for her brother. If you haven't reviewed yet then please do so now!**

**Thanks again to Maraya Prower (Here's a chapter to help cheer you up and Windy said she would give you chocolate so you don't have to cry anymore.) for reviewing!**

** Windy "here…" *hands chocolate over* "And don't ask for anymore."**

** Katherine "Ladies and gentlemen! Windy has a heart after all!"**

** Windy "…Just walk away Katherine. Just walk away before I let Sierra lose on you."**

** Katherine "…."**

**Okay I haven't done this for a while so I probably should: DISCLAIMER= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. If it's not SEGA's then it's mine.**

**Chapter Eight: Captured**

_Katherine's POV_

"Ugh…" I grumbled, opening my eyes slowly. "That was a rough crash landing… I will never, _ever_, hitch a ride in an escape pod ever again."

The glass door had shattered all over me and the remains of the metal door and the metal around me was nothing but a bunch of dents. I rubbed my head as I slowly pushed the half broken door off, and had it fall right off its hinges and crash into the ground.

I stood up, having the small pieces of glass fall off me and then opened my eyes in shock when I felt the temperature drop at least seventy degrees instantly. I looked around with my eyes wide to see that it was snowing. It was seriously snowing all around me. The white, fluffy flakes floated all around me like they were dancing to their own music.

I whistled at the sight before me as I climbed out of the remains of the escape pod and dropped into the foot deep snow, where it was up to my knees, instantly numbing my legs because I was wearing shorts- of all days!

With a look around, I could see the trees covered in snow already and nothing could be seen on the ground. I frowned and looked around, Shadow _had_ to have landed somewhere around here… but the question, was: where?

"Shadow?" I called, cupping my numb hands around my mouth. I watched the hot steam that came out of my mouth float away before calling again. "Shadow!"

Without further to do, I started trudging through the snow, taking in the beauty of another dimension as I did so.

"Shadow!" I continued to call after trudging forward a few feet. I looked back at the broken down space pod as I wrapped my hands around my arms, shivering slightly. There was a nice long trail from the space pod to me. If G.U.N. _somehow_ followed us down from the ARK they would find it very easy to track me.

Well, good thing they weren't here.

"SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!" I yelled, my voice cutting through the snowy silence like a knife. I looked around, shivering still. I was going to freeze out here if I didn't find shelter… or something warmer to wear.

I trudged forward a few more feet while thinking that at least the scenery was beautiful. Too bad Maria wasn't here to see this. She would be dancing and singing…

Tears filled up my eyes and I wiped them away quickly. No, no, no, Maria told me to move along and not dwell on the past. And I promised her I would do just that.

I trudged forward again, shivering slightly before laughing quietly to myself. Here I was, in the middle of another dimension, in the snow, and looking for my brother. What were the odds of that ever happening? Windy and Zap would be laughing if I told them about this when I went back. Maybe I could bring Shadow along too… then we would never have to worry about G.U.N. ever again.

"Shadow?" I called again.

I climbed slowly up a hill until I noticed smoke floating into the sky near the top of it. Was that a campfire? Great! I could go down and get warm… and maybe even get a meal or something warmer to wear. Before I could think any more about it, I ran up the hill, sending powdered snow flying everywhere behind me as my boots kicked it up, where it mixed with the peaceful falling snow before falling back to the ground.

I reached the top of the hill excitedly before I heard an angry call and a gunshot, where I ducked down into the snow. What just happened there? I peeked over the hill in surprise and shock as a voice yelled: "Get the creature into the truck, now!"

At the bottom of the hill, a snowy campsite was in place. About ten or eleven faded green colored tents made a ring around a large bonfire, where the flames flickered orange and licked at the snow floating around it. There were cars, yes cars, gathered around the outside of the camp and a large army truck was near the edge of the campsite. A group of men wearing heavy, warm coats were carrying an unconscious figure towards the truck.

I squinted at the figure and gasped when I recognized it as a black hedgehog with red stripes on its quills. "Shadow!" I gasped. I glanced at the cars and noticed a motorbike standing next to the cars and Zap's lessons on motorbike riding came back to me, resulting in a cocky grin on my face.

I slowly started climbing down the hill, jumping down and trying not to make any obvious tracks that someone was climbing down the hill. When I reached the bottom, I ducked behind a tent and glanced around as they loaded Shadow onto the back of the trunk before closing it tight.

Two men walked past me and I ducked behind the tent again. On the back of their furry coats, I saw the horrifying three letters that made me tremble in fear and anger: G.U.N.

How were they here? Heck, what were they _doing_ here? Did Towers plan this? It was almost like he was planning our every move in advance the entire time we were on the ARK. How could he know we were landing here? A guess? Good luck? Was the world out for Shadow and me now?

I shook my head. It didn't matter, Shadow was about to be taken and used as a test experiment and as long as I lived I was _not_ going to let that happen.

Without a sound, I hopped out from behind the tent and rolled behind the other one, glancing back at my tracks and secretly begging for the fellow G.U.N. agents to not notice my tracks anytime soon. I moved silently towards the bike and hopped into the seat without a sound. I grinned when I realized the idiot that owned this bike left his keys in still.

However, before I could do anything, a roar of an engine echoed around the camp, I heard the startled caw of a crow as it took to the sky while I looked over at the truck. Two G.U.N. officers had climbed into the truck and turned it on. I watched the giant machine rumble away, letting off a big belch of black smoke into the air as it did so.

I watched the car drive away and then looked back at the key in the ignition.

"Looks like my luck's is going to change," I whispered quietly as I grabbed the key. I turned the bike on and the engine hummed underneath me, nowhere near as loud as the truck's engine was. I leaned forward as far as I could on the large bike, knowing this was defiantly not my style of driving.

I turned the left handle and the engine roared louder, catching the attention of other G.U.N. officers' attention. They all turned to me and started crying out, pointing to me in shock. One of the grabbed a gun and I pressed the gas with my foot and after a moment of turning up snow and dirt, I shot forward, away from the campsite and after the truck.

I swerved to the left as bullets lined the ground behind me and then again to the right as I started catching up to the truck. Without further to do, I pulled out my sword as one of the G.U.N. officers in the truck turned around and started shooting at me with a pistol. I sliced all the bullets in half… until one hit my engine.

"Oh by the…" I growled as I used my energy to help teleport myself onto the top of the truck and return my sword to its invisible sheath. I watched the motorbike roll over a few times before exploding into a million pieces.

Suddenly, the truck slid to a stop and threw me off. I landed in the snow with a powdery explosion and as I got up, a G.U.N. agent hopped off the roof of the truck and landed in front of me, gun raised.

I frowned as my mind started thinking of a situation. Well, maybe this guy could lead me to Shadow and we could plan our escape from there. Without further to do, I lifted my hands into the air while getting up, surprising the solider. The other driver got out of the car and this one carefully opened the back of the truck before picking me up by the back of my shirt and tossing me in like I was a ragdoll.

They closed the door so fast I didn't even have time to jump back up to my feet. I rubbed my head and looked around in the darkness, seeing almost nothing. I pulled out my sword once again so its white energy could glow in the dark and show me around.

Crimson eyes reflected the light of my sword and we shared eye contact for a moment. The eyes narrowed and I blinked cautiously.

"Katherine?" The owner of the eyes asked in a dark, but hopeful, voice.

"Shadow?" I whispered, even though I knew it was him already.

Shadow's eyes stopped narrowing and he came out into the light where he gave me a tight hug. The truck underneath us rumbled to life and then started moving again, but we were both too happy to see the other to care much.

"You're—you're alive!" Shadow gaped. He let go of me and looked me in the eye. "And… Maria?"

I lowered my eyes to the ground and said nothing. Shadow lowered his eyes as well, looking at the straw covered floor around us. It smelled like animals were once held in here before we were, however anything else in the room was covered in darkness that my sword could not reveal.

I looked at my brother and smiled weakly. "She told me to tell you to move along though. That's what Maria would want us to do, Shadow."

Shadow nodded. "But… I will miss her."

"I will too… but dwelling on the past will not get us anywhere."

Shadow nodded slowly, seeing my point. We both became silent until we hit over a large bump. I felt myself fly into the air with a cry and then crashed into my brother.

"Ow..." Shadow groaned.

"Sorry…" I laughed as I got off of him. He rubbed his head and looked at me before shaking his head slowly.

Another silence landed around us until Shadow brought up a question I've feared all day. "What do you think Towers will do to us when he sees they caught us?"

"I—I don't know." I muttered quietly. I hated not knowing the answer to a serious question. It was bad enough that I didn't even know where we were going. I glanced at my brother and looked at the ground. "Hey Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"Where are we going anyways?"

Shadow looked at me, a serious look on his face. "The G.U.N. officers said we were going to an island. A place called Prison Island."

**Another chapter done! Stay tuned next time for more awesome action in this story. And if you haven't reviewed: then… DO SO NOW! Or else Zap will shock you.**

** Zap "With a pan."**

** Windy and Katherine "…."**


	9. Long Days

**Chapter nine is officially here! Thanks to all the amazing reviewers that reviewed: Skagui the sniper and Maraya Prower! If **_**YOU**_ **haven't reviewed then please go to the bottom of the screen and click on the nice review button. Come on, it won't kill you.**

**Skagui the sniper= thanks for the review and haha, love the name it's flipping amazing.**

**Maraya Prower= Shadow doesn't know his own strength because think about it: he's only a few weeks old and is **_**still**_** a bit naïve. He still hasn't fully gotten his "I'm the Ultimate Life Form and nothing can stop me" attitude yet because he hasn't been knocked out for 50 years, trapped in Prison Island with G.U.N., lost his memory, and lost his best friend and sister— yet. And Shadow doesn't know too much about swimming (Maria tried teaching him) but Katherine does thanks to Windy and Zap's friend named Wave. And yes… something bad is going to happen. Windy "And you're welcome."**

** Me "So…! Welcome back and continue reading and enjoy the story."**

** Windy "And don't forget to review when you're done."**

** Zap "Or I'll shock you with a spoon" *dark look added with a grin***

**DISCLAIMERS= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. If I did, then Katherine would have her own video game and Zap's special move would probably be shocking people with metal spoons.**

***Warning*- The beginning part is being told in Shadow's POV, and this is his first time seeing things that are on Earth for the first time so bear with him as he tries describing how crazy everything looks to him.**

**Chapter Nine: Long days**

_Shadow's POV_

_ "Gerald? What are you doing here?" Katherine gasped, standing up even taller beside me with a look of shock and disbelief on her face._

_ I looked at him in surprise and saw the familiar professor that had granted me life only weeks before. He looked the same… but his hair was wild and was that a crazed look in his eyes?_

_ "I'm here… to get revenge!" Gerald cried._

10 minutes earlier…

The truck rumbled to a stop and my head flew up in surprise. Katherine grumbled something about how annoying trucks could be in her sleep as she laid her head on my shoulder. I smiled quietly to myself as the door suddenly flew open, sending in blinding light.

Katherine was now up and looked around in panic, grabbing her sword that laid on the bed of the truck in the process of doing so. I put my hand on her hand and she relaxed a little as our eyes adjusted to the brightness.

The sky wasn't dropping those cold fluffy things anymore—or as Katherine called it: snow. Maria and Katherine explained to me about snow earlier but both forgot to mention the important detail that it was wet _and_ cold. Instead, a bright light from the sky above shined down on us and fluffy things floated across the sky. The smell of water was in the air as it flooded into the truck with a comforting gust of a summer wind.

"Come on out, you two." One of the G.U.N. officers said gruffly.

I climbed out of the truck first and stood tall before them. I looked around slowly at trees, real live trees not like the fake ones on the ARK, which grew out of the ground around and stood even taller than the two G.U.N. officers. We stood on flat, black grass with yellow lines running through the middle of it. There was a large building to my left with no windows and barbwire all around it. I looked back and saw that the road ended with wooden planks where it opened out into an endless array of water, which had to be what Katherine and Maria described as an ocean.

Katherine climbed out next to me and squinted in the harsh light. "Wow… it's so bright!"

"And warm," I added. How could light bring warmth? It didn't seem possible… yet here I was surrounded by land and water.

Both G.U.N. officers rolled their eyes and pushed us forward. We raised our hands as they drilled the front part of their guns into the back of our heads… since we were shorter than the humans were and to reach our backs both would have to lean down, so I suppose that to them our heads worked just as well.

We were forced to walk down the hardened, gray, grass towards the large building with barbwire fence surrounding it. I glanced up at the sky that was almost the same color as Katherine's eyes when she was in a good mood. The fluffy white things in the sky seemed to be moving closer to that blinding light… Earth was seriously confusing. I shook my head as part of the barb wire fence seemed to pick itself up and move out of the way like an automatic door. As soon as that part of the fence was gone, we were forced forward again and the fence closed behind us.

I looked at Katherine, who barely shook her head. Before we had both fallen asleep we planned we would make an escape attempt when the time was right. I frowned at her, thinking now was the perfect time until I saw Katherine's gaze glance up to the tall towers lining either side of this hard, gray grass we were still walking on.

With a closer look at the towers, I could see almost hundreds of different machines whirling on the top of them. I scowled when I realized that these machines were a combination of guns and lasers. Katherine had made a good move, neither of us would escape with these machines trained on us without a scratch.

The two of us were pushed through the automatic doors at the large gray building behind the barb wire and we walked into a large metal room where a bunch of G.U.N. officers had their guns trained on us. Katherine growled as the doors closed and locked with a _click_ behind us. The ones that had brought us here stood in front of the doors, blocking our exit from behind.

We were in a large, rectangular room with four doors, all on opposite ends of the room. However, G.U.N. officers were blocking each exit as they made a tight ring around us. Bright lights like the ones on ARK shined down on everyone in the room from above. The G.U.N. agents stared us down for a moment until the doors in front of us opened up revealing a man I hated with a passion and was shocked to find here.

Commander Towers marched into the room with his hands behind his back. He had a new scar that ran from the edge of his right eye all the way down to the middle of his neck, probably from the ARK wall crashing down on him, since Katherine told me her side of the story. As he marched forward, he glared at us furiously and I heard Katherine mutter something along the lines of: "Pssh, he looks a bit like Zap now."

He stopped ten feet away and broke into a forced smile. "Ah! Projects Shadow and Dimension! How good it is to see you both!"

Katherine and I said nothing as rage coursed through my body. _This is him. This is the man that killed innocent Maria. If it wasn't for him she would still be alive… she'd probably be with us now if it wasn't for him._

Towers moved a bit to the left, showing us the door he had come out of. Katherine and I turned our attention to the door as Towers spoke. "I have someone who has been _dying_ to meet you for the past few days… I present to you Doctor Robotnik!"

The doors hissed open and out of the shadows in chains was none other than the professor himself. Two G.U.N. officers stood on either side of him, holding shotguns across their chests as the man stumbled into the room next to Towers. He looked up and stared at us for a moment, not saying a word while Towers smirked.

"Gerald? What are you doing here?" Katherine gasped, standing up even taller beside me with a look of shock and disbelief on her face.

I looked at him in surprise and saw the familiar professor that had granted me life only weeks before. He looked the same… but his hair was wild and was that a crazed look in his eyes?

"I'm here… to get revenge!" Gerald cried.

"Um… okay." Katherine looked at me while I took a step forward, scaring all the G.U.N. agents that circled around us in the room.

I lifted a hand out to him. "What do you need revenge for?"

"They killed Maria!" Gerald yelled. "I saw her dead body with my own eyes! You two will help me, won't you?"

"Revenge is only served cold." I said darkly.

"And it doesn't get one anywhere." Katherine added quietly next to me while Gerald stared at us.

After a very long, awkward silence, Gerald let out a giggle that made both Katherine and I stare at him. I crossed my arms as Gerald spoke up. "That's okay! I can solve this on my own. Can't I? Of course I can, I'm a genius after all! Annie and Sanderson say so! Darren will help me too haha!"

"Uh… Gerald?" Katherine said slowly but Gerald seemed to not be able to hear her, he continued ranting on.

"I'll just need some stuff! Oh yes, then I can get revenge on every living being on this planet. Maybe I can use the ARK! Oh yes, how lovely to put home into the mixture. Home is where the heart is as they say of course, hehe! Maria would agree as well… sweet, sweet, Maria! As sweet as honey!"

I didn't know what to say and neither did Katherine. G.U.N. agents gathered around Gerald, picked him up by the arms and dragged him away as he rambled on about using the ARK for some unknown plan in the future. I glanced at Katherine who just looked horrified as I felt while the automatic doors closed, sealing us with silent G.U.N. agents and Towers.

"You see? No one is going to help you out now." Towers said with a dark grin on his face.

"Just get to the point." I growled at him, shutting him up instantly.

Katherine nodded, her eyes narrowing. "What do you really plan on doing with us?"

Towers sighed. "Well… if you _must_ know. I wanted to use both of you as painful test experiments. However, the president is against that so you two are stuck here for a while until that is figured out. GUARDS!"

Every G.U.N. agent, maybe thirty total, in the room saluted.

"Take them to Prison Cell 8813." Towers commanded. Then he marched away, through the door on the left hand side of us without looking back.

The G.U.N. soldiers surrounded us and marched us down the corridors of hallways filled with human criminals that seemed to shrink against the wall in fear as we passed by them. As we walked along, I calculated silently to myself, thinking of a tricky and smart way out, but I was stopped short when I saw a giant room filled to the brim with water to my left. In the middle of it was a room covered with glass with a small computer, a bed, and a table in the room. Typing furiously on the computer was someone whose face now pained my heart.

"Gerald…" Katherine whispered in pity as we were forced by the water cell. Gerald didn't even look up from his work to watch us passing by but he had a crazed smile on his face while we moved along.

Finally we were ushered into a small room very similar to the one in the truck, but a bit bigger than the truck, only by about ten feet. Straw covered the floor and as soon as we were in metal bars closed in behind us before crackling with electricity.

The agents walked away without looking back while Katherine sat on the floor in the back of the cell, hugging her knees against her chest with her head on top of them. Her shoulders were shaking and I felt a pain hit my heart like an arrow. She was crying.

I wanted to help her, but I wasn't sure what to do. I eventually sat down next to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We might as well give up, Shadow." Katherine sobbed.

I looked at her in surprise. Katherine? Giving up? Already? That didn't seem like a sensible thing to do and I suddenly felt like the older one in this situation. "We can't give up." I said to her seriously. "If we do then Towers will win."

Katherine said nothing for a moment, just continued crying.

"Even you said that we were going to escape from here. What made you change your mind so fast?" I asked.

"Gerald… Gerald's lost it, he was the one person I always looked up too and now that he's lost it, how are we any be—better?" Katherine sniffed. "I'm not even sure if there's a way to… to escape from the electric bars and…"

"Katherine?"

"Hm? What?"

"We'll be fine. We'll get out of here, run off to your dimension and never have to live this nightmare again. Gerald gave up. That's why he's insane. We cannot give up like he did."

Katherine was silent for another moment as she lifted her head and wiped away a tear. "When did you get to be so smart, Shadow?"

I managed to contain my smile. "Well, maybe I got it from the smartest Dimension Jumper."

Katherine smiled and looked at the bars. "You think Maria's proud of us?"

"I know she is."

Katherine's smile grew a bit before pulling out her small, white emerald from her pocket and then handing it to me. I looked at it in surprise as she dropped it in my hands and looked at her. "What's this for?"

"I think you're going to need it more than I do. It might bring good luck this time around. Besides, it is part of my soul right?"

"Right…"

"If we ever get separated and if this thing is still around it's got to mean I'm alive, right? If my soul is dead then this thing dies. I guess you can say it'll help you know if it's worthwhile to keep looking for me or not." Katherine shrugged.

I smiled at her, seeing now that this was an important item to keep and Katherine grinned back at me. After a moment we looked at the bars. "So…" I finally said after a moment of silence. "What's the plan?"

Katherine's grin turned into a dark one. "How good are you with Chaos Control?"

It was my turn to grin. "As good as a ninja."

Katherine face palmed.

-XXXXXXXX-

_Katherine's POV_

I don't know how long it's been. Days? Months? Years? Maybe even decades? Shadow and I had been planning our escape route for a long time. We had talked our plans in low whisper so no one, not even the computer monitors or security cameras, could hear us. We had finally got it all settled down and even triple checked it for little mistakes. I even explained all the confusing things Shadow saw when we were first here like what the asphalt was and those fluffy white things in the sky were clouds until he finally understood it all. It seemed like we were ready for action but all we needed now was a large distraction.

Chaos Control or teleporting out was _not_ an option. G.U.N. had soldiers standing outside our cell door every day. We found that out when Shadow almost got caught while trying to prove to me that Chaos Control was faster than teleportation.

However, today seemed like our lucky day when a man who guarded us often by the name of Timberlong (yes, bad name, I know) came to our cell with a Towers' kind of grin on his face. "Did you hear about what the president wanted, monsters?" He asked us.

I sighed and said nothing. Shadow had gotten darker and quieter over the past few… however many days, months, years, or decades we have been here. He rarely spoke to anyone and rarely smiled when someone else, besides myself, was talking. He played around with my emerald as he normally did when he was trying to distract himself from what the man named Timberlong was saying.

Timberlong sneered as he leaned in close to the bars, but not close enough to get zapped by the electricity. "Towers was talking about what the president said. Apparently the big man wants to put you two into a deep sleep forever. You two are too big of a threat and have to be put away _humanly_."

I raised an eyebrow at him while playing around with one of the few pieces of straw that remained on the floor.

Timberlong continued. "And not only has that but Towers wanted you two to be separated as I am here to do now."

Shadow jolted with a start and glared up at Timberlong as the G.U.N. officer started pressing buttons on the small digital keyboard by the side of our cell. The electricity stopped flickering and the cell doors slowly started open. My brother glanced at me and I nodded slightly. This was it, our distraction.

Timberlong moved towards me. "How about you little lady monster?"

"Now," I said coldly.

Shadow jumped to his feet and chaos controlled behind the man, spin attacking behind his head. Timberlong fell to the ground with a cry and looked at Shadow in surprise. "I thought… they underfed you so you wouldn't be able to do this!"

"I'm the Ultimate Life Form," Shadow growled, his eyes narrowing. "You cannot stop me that easily."

"And I'm an agent of the Light Givers… I've lasted longer without food then this." I added as Timberlong struggled for his radio that was a good three feet in front of him. Before he could reach for it though, I stepped on it, smashing it into a million pieces.

Timberlong gaped while Shadow moved outside of the cell and started pressing buttons on the control pad. I moved out and stood in front of the cell as Timberlong got to his feet in surprise. "Wait! Stop!"

Too late. Shadow pressed the enter button and the cell doors slammed close in Timberlong's face. He grabbed the cell bars angrily. "You cannot stop me! I'll just yell for help! I'll—"

"You might not want to do that…" I said slowly but my words fell on deaf ears as Timberlong started shouting for help, but stopped short when electricity flared down the bars and shocked the G.U.N. agent.

"Ouch," I said as the man fell unconscious.

There was a moment of silence as the realization of what just happened settled down on me. I turned to Shadow, who had a smug look on his face until turning his crimson red eyes onto me. Before he could say or do anything, I tackled hugged him. "Shadow! We did it! We did it! We're getting out now! We're going home! To a safe place!"

Shadow rolled his eyes and smiled before gently pushing me off of him. "We're not out of here yet. We still have to leave the building and island first."

I nodded in agreement, getting serious fast.

"Now come on," Shadow said as he walked past me. "We're getting out of this insane asylum."

**There you go! Another chapter done! Thanks for reading it and stay tuned for the next chapter that'll come out soon!**

** Windy "And don't forget to review!"**

** Katherine "Or we'll let Sierra lose on you!"**

** Zap "And then shock you with a metal spoon."**

** Katherine "Hey that rhymed!"**

** Windy *laughs***

** Zap *face palms***

** Me "Seriously though, please review. And after a quick view at my notes I found out there's only two more chapters left! So hurry and review!"**


	10. Forever and Always

**Welcome to the last time I'll be updating on Katherine's Tale… both chapters are up and I must say thank you all for your cooperation. However, I must thank the following reviewers first before going to the story: lydiathetigeropean, Maraya Prower, and raeweis.**

**Lydiathetigeropean= Haha good guess but I can't tell you if you're right or not ;P**

**Maraya Prower= Haha I know but good things always have to end eventually—even if I don't want it to end too. And here's the chapter you're looking for!**

**Raeweis= Thanks, I just checked out your story about Silver and it was pretty awesome. I tried to make this chapter just as action packed as it was on the ARK chapter so I hope you enjoy this one just as much!**

**Disclaimer= I don't own anything that's SEGA's. If I did then I'd use the money to build my own Dimension Jumping machine.**

**Zap "And if you haven't reviewed yet then do so quickly… or else you can say goodbye to your metal spoons."**

**Windy and Katherine *anime tear drop***

**Chapter Ten: Forever and Always**

Shadow grabbed Katherine's hand and pulled her along as they ran down the corridor. Katherine looked back nervously, hand on her sword handle. "Do you think they know yet?" She wondered aloud.

Shadow said nothing for a moment. "Come on!" He finally growled when he noticed his sister was slowing down.

Katherine turned her attention on her brother and started running faster. They reached a dead end in the wall and Katherine ran up to it, put an ear on the metal wall, and tapped it gently a few times. She turned to Shadow. "Brick on the outside, metal in here."

Shadow popped his knuckles. "Step aside, little sis."

Katherine rolled her eyes, knowing she was older than him by far. She stood next to her brother while he pulled out Katherine's white emerald and lifted a hand towards the wall. He glanced at Katherine for a moment.

"You ready to run?"

"Ready," Katherine's eyes narrowed.

"The alarms will go off as soon as this door is down…"

"Just blow up the wall already Shadow. I know what's at stake when the wall comes down."

Shadow nodded and glared at the wall before him. "Chaos Blast!" He yelled as a beam of golden, purple, and white energy shot into the wall. It melted through it like the blast was made of lava and when the blast faded, the hole made in the wall showed a nice view of the trees bathing in sunlight outside while the edges of the round hole smoked.

Then, the dreaded sound came: the alarms. They blared angrily down at them as the two hopped out of the small hole before booking it into the trees. This was the beginning of the most difficult parts of their plan. This part both of them knew that if something bad happened it would cost them everything. It was the only thing they couldn't fix.

Shadow looked up at the trees above them as the shouts of G.U.N. officers were heard before the barking of dogs. With Katherine's emerald tight in his left hand he glanced back for a second to see the officers running towards them, with large German Shepherds pulling them forward, barking furiously and showing their teeth.

"We got company," Shadow said, turning his attention forward while Katherine ran alongside him.

"Noticed," Katherine said as the large barb wired fence appeared before them.

Next step to the plan was underway. Shadow grabbed Katherine's hand and lifted up her emerald. "Chaos Control!" They vanished and reappeared on the other side of the fence before continuing to run again.

Katherine took her turn to glance back and saw the fence stopped their pursuers… for now. "Good job, Shadow!" Katherine complimented.

Shadow showed Katherine a smug look on his face before jumping over a fallen log. More barks were heard along with the sound of a helicopter ripping its blade through the air as they ran into denser parts of the forest.

As they ran, Katherine stole a moment to look back and saw a helicopter flying towards them. On the ground, dogs were running after them, growling and barking furiously while Katherine looked forward again.

"We got company again?" Shadow asked her, somehow managing to say that calmly.

"Yep… didn't expect them to let the dogs lose though."

"They what?"

"Just run! Don't worry about the dogs!"

"We need to split up."

"Excuse me? I think someone forgot what happened last time when we got separated. Separation means _death_ for both of us!" Katherine cried.

"The dogs will get confused if we split up." Shadow explained seriously as they ran. "We can meet up again on the last step, by the prier."

Katherine shook her head stubbornly. "I'm not losing anyone else!"

"Katherine please!" Shadow begged. "This is not the time for you to object. It's the only way that at least one of us can get out instead of both of us. You don't want to be put into sleep forever do you?"

"If it means you get away then yes!"

"Katherine!"

Katherine bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment, trying not to cry. She didn't want to lose anyone else ever again. It was too painful to deal with but she knew her brother was right. "Fine! You better make it to the pier though, you hear me?"

"I will, I promise. You better too."

The duo split up, Shadow going to the right and Katherine running off to the left.

_Shadow's POV_

The dogs were still behind me and I could only hope it wasn't the same for Katherine. The ground was uneven and very hard to run full speed on. I glanced back to see the helicopter floating above the trees where we split up at before floating after the direction Katherine went.

I gritted my teeth. I had been hoping that blasted machine would go after me instead of Katherine.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in my head and I slid to a stop in shock. _"Oh Shadow, you silly! Stop putting all the pressure on yourself!"_

"M—Maria?" I gasped, looking around.

The voice that sounded like dear Maria didn't answer and the barking and wailing of dogs behind me brought me back to reality. I shook my head. I had to be hearing things, which wasn't a good sign.

I ran off again, dodging trees and rocks at top speed, skidding over water, and jumping over fallen logs. Green, brown, and other colors of the forest blended together as I picked up speed, my shoes helping me skate over all of it like it was nothing.

Cliffs appeared on either side of me and I jumped high into the air before crashing into the cliff on the left. I used little ledges in the cliff to help bounce myself all the way to the top of it. When I reached the top I glanced down at the dogs wailing, seeing that they had lost their prey. I smirked at them until I saw a form hopping out of the trees right across from me on the other side of the cliff.

_Who the heck… oh no…_ "Katherine!" I yelled down at her. The dogs far below me turned their attention to the newcomer as she headed straight towards me canyon that no one, not even myself, could've jumped over easily.

I could only stare as a pack of dogs ran out of the tree covering behind her. The girl jumped, high into the air towards me and I held my breath as a dog jumped into the air after her, not letting his prey get away so easily. Time slowed down as Katherine turned towards the dog and used a blast of energy to hit the dog. This sent her flying the rest of the way over the canyon and crashing into me. We both flew into the woods and slid to a stop when I hit a tree.

"Watch where you're falling next time…" I growled.

"Sorry," Katherine laughed as she sat up. "Well good call on the split up. Seems like we lost the dogs…"

A whirring sound caught my attention suddenly and I glanced at Katherine. "But not the helicopter, come on!"

We stumbled to our feet again before running once more.

"We're almost there!" Katherine called to me as the roar of helicopter blades got louder. I could smell the salt water now. It was in the air and I could almost smell the freedom that welcomed me along the way. Katherine's emerald started glowing brightly in my hand as if it was excited too.

I looked back and saw a large helicopter coming through the trees. Not only that, but the sound of hundreds of engines caught my attention too. It seemed like a helicopter wasn't the only machine that was after us.

We raced into a clearing from the trees and I could see the road leading to the prier that we were on long ago below us. However, all around us, cars, jeeps, motorbikes, and other machines were starting to surround us. They were going to catch us unless some miracle happened. A horrible plan that Katherine would hate forever formed in my mind as I looked at the ocean water.

I slid to a stop and turned towards the machines behind me. "Chaos Spear!" I threw a large spear gleaming dark colors and it crashed hard into the ground, sending a jeep flipping a few hundred times into the air. It crashed into the helicopter and the helicopter caught fire before crashing into the ground then exploding, catching other cars on fire.

"Shadow? What are you doing?" Katherine yelled, sliding to a stop far in front of me.

I looked at my sister and showed her a compassionate smile, probably the last one I would do for the rest of my life. I tossed her an item and she caught it in surprise before looking at it then crying out when she saw it was her soul emerald.

_Katherine's POV_

"Shadow?" I managed to choke out while the cars started stopping all around us. G.U.N. officers hopped out, carrying guns and other weapons. The hedgehog only looked at me with a kind smile.

"Go Katherine. Go home."

"What? Not without you… I—I can't lose you too!"

"Go home. Do it for Maria. And do it for me."

"Shadow…!"

"Go!"

For some reason, I didn't stay to argue with him anymore. I wish I knew why, maybe my emerald influenced me or something. I didn't stay to try to help save him, I just did as he asked. I turned around and fled the scene while Shadow smiled behind me.

I jumped off the edge of the cliff and hit the ground rolling. I got back to my feet though and kept running towards the prier. My heart pounding wildly as I heard the hum of a motorbike engine behind me. My feet hit solid asphalt as I neared my destination and I stole a moment to look back at the motorbike before crying out in fear.

Commander Towers was on a motorbike. Rage was all over his face and he held a hand outstretched to grab me as his motorbike flew towards me. I ran faster than ever as Shadow's words repeated over and over again in my mind until it became a chant. _"Go home. Do it for Maria. And do it for me. Go home. Do it for Maria. And do it for me."_

My feet pounded on the wooden planks as I looked out over the ocean. I gritted my teeth angrily as I forced myself to go faster. Towers was still behind me, not wanting to lose his prized position, his prized _pet_.

_"Go home. Do it for Maria. And do it for me."_

The edge of the prier was only ten feet away. Ten feet away from freedom, ten feet away from something I lost as soon as G.U.N. came on the ARK: happiness. I closed my eyes tightly, as I reached the edge of the prier and launched myself high into the air, out of Towers' outstretched grip and into the beyond.

-XXXXXXXX-

_Third Person POV_

Shadow the hedgehog was dragged onto the edge of the pier where Towers was glaring angrily out into the ocean where the sun was starting to set. Towers didn't even look at him until a G.U.N. officer coughed quietly. He then looked back, down at Shadow, and then looked back at the water.

"What's the matter, commander, sir?" The officer that pulled him along asked. He had messy black hair and dark blue eyes. A frown was upon his face while he saluted the commander.

"The girl refuses to come back."

Shadow tensed up. Katherine? She was still here? He had secretly hoped she was gone, she made it away, and was safe from this mad house. He pushed himself to his knees and clasped a hand over his shoulder where it stung from being kicked so many times.

Out in the water, sitting on top of the water a good twenty feet out so no one could reach out to her even with a long stick, sat Shadow's irritated sister. Her arms were crossed and her blue eyes were narrowed with tears gathering up at the end of them. Her white Emerald was sitting on her lap. The wind blew her hair around quietly as if trying to calm her down.

"Get back here!" Towers roared.

Katherine ignored him, instead she laid her eyes down on her brother with a look of worry and fear.

Shadow understood immediately. She didn't want to go without him. She didn't want to lose anybody else. This was a nightmare for her that wasn't ending.

_Go…_ he mouthed the words to her. Katherine twitched her ears, cocking her head sideways while Shadow nodded his head reassuringly at her. Towers was just going to put him to sleep there was nothing more to it. He wasn't going to suffer test experiments and Katherine understood that leaving him might just be the best option for both of them.

"When I'm done counting to three I will blow you out of the water unless you come here RIGHT NOW!" Towers roared. Behind him a man in a professor's robe ran forward, holding a needle in his hands which Towers grabbed out of them.

"One…!"

The girl only stared at Shadow with a sad look on her face.

"Two…!"

The Dimension Jumper looked over at Towers.

"Don't make me say three." Towers hissed.

Katherine then stood up tall, grabbing hold of her emerald, and Towers smirked, thinking he had caught her. Instead, Katherine pulled out a small black box with a red button in the middle of it from her pocket. Using some of Windy's wind magic, she lifted herself into the air with her emerald clasped tightly in her hand. She turned her attention to the horizon and looked at Shadow.

"I'll be back for you someday." She said. "Until then… forever and always Shadow. That's how long I'll remember you."

She turned to the horizon again and chucked the emerald. The white thing spun until it was far out of sight before looking back at Shadow. With barely a movement, she pressed the red button and bright light with every color known to man seemed to surround her.

"Sayonara, Katherine." Shadow whispered.

"Forever and Always, Shadow." Katherine said quietly.

Towers cried out. "Stop her! Stop her!"

But it was too late, the light surrounded Katherine and then it disappeared, taking Shadow the hedgehog's sister with it.

Shadow smiled faintly. She got away… she made it.

Towers turned on him, needle raised and Shadow narrowed his eyes. Wait! What was that? What was going on here?

"I'll get you instead!" Towers roared as he shoved the needle into his arm.

Shadow blinked in surprise, the pain not as bad as he expected it to be but he suddenly felt tied. So… so tired. Like he could sleep for a hundred years. Shadow closed his eyes and fell into a heap on the ground, unconscious.

-XXXXXXXX-

The bright light faded slowly and Zap pressed a button on his keypad, removing the glass door between him, Windy and the newcomer slowly. Windy hopped off the keypad as Katherine appeared on a small platform, looking confused, angry, sad, and alone all at once.

"Katherine!" Windy cried as she ran forward to her friend.

"Windy?" Katherine's eyes widened.

Windy tackled her into a hug. "Thank the Light Givers you're okay! You've been gone for ages! I almost came and went after you myself!"

"Ages?"

"Three hundred and sixty-five years." Zap said sternly as he stood next to me. "And you haven't changed a bit. You must've traveled through a time warp on the way back. Since time progress is different in every dimensions it must've affected you on your time back here. But here, don't listen to me rambling on about time and space. As long as you're safe we're happy."

"Oh…" Katherine looked halfheartedly down at the ground.

Windy frowned. Something was wrong with her friend, she could see it. Her eyes seemed darker and sadder as if what she saw was horrifying for the last three hundred and sixty-five years she was gone. She frowned and coughed quietly, bringing Katherine's attention to herself. "So… Katherine, how was the mission?"

Katherine's eyes stung as she looked away from Windy and Zap. "It was… fine."

"Fine?" Windy asked questionably.

"Yeah… fine." Katherine muttered. She walked quietly out of the room, leaving a stunned Windy and Zap behind before closing the door to the room.

"Fine?" Windy asked while turning to Zap.

"If she says it was fine then it was fine." Zap said stubbornly. He turned his attention to a small box like machine in his hands and started working on it, pulling a screwdriver out of his pocket before fiddling with the device.

Windy looked at the closed door with a frown. _It's not the mission that I'm worried about… it's Katherine._ She thought quietly to herself.

And for a second—just a second— Windy thought she heard someone crying behind the closed doors.

**One chapter left…**


	11. Epilogue

**Last chapter…**

**Disclaimer= Pssh… you all know I don't own SEGA. If I did this story would be a game with Towers being a boss so everyone would enjoy being Shadow the hedgehog and kicking him in the face.**

**Epilogue: 55 years after Katherine's disappearance**

Shadow the hedgehog moved quietly across the sand covered beach, his shoes sinking into the sand every step he took. Rouge the bat and E-123 Omega moved behind him, all of them scaling the ground before them. Shadow glanced at the machine G.U.N. had given him earlier that day to find a strange radiation of chaos energy— probably from a Chaos Emerald.

The blinking light was closer now. They were almost on top of the emerald now. Rouge let out a wistful sigh. "When I find that emerald… I'm going to turn it into a necklace!"

Omega made a weird whirring sound, probably the robotic term of a sigh. "NEGATIVE. WE HAVE TO GIVE IT TO THE COMMANDER OF G.U.N. FIRST."

Rouge grumbled something under her breath.

"Enough fighting you two." Shadow said sternly. He suddenly stopped as the energy of the Chaos Emerald went off the chart. Rouge and Omega stopped behind him and stared at the monitor as Shadow handed it to Omega, who accepted it without a word.

Shadow bent down and started digging in the sand until his hand hit something hard. He stopped and wrapped his hand around the familiar feeling of an emerald. He pulled it out of the sand and stared at the glowing white emerald in his hands.

Rouge gasped. "It's gorgeous! Let me see it Shadow!"

Shadow looked at the emerald but didn't hand it to Rouge. He frowned at the familiar glowing, black mass in the center of the emerald. It seemed so familiar… the thought of it made him want to smile, but he managed not to. Omega and Rouge would wonder what was wrong with him if he smiled.

"THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS EMERALD." Omega stated after a moment of silence.

"Wow, what's that thing in the middle of it?" Rouge said, leaning forward. Shadow glared at her and she quickly stood up again.

Shadow looked at the emerald again when a sudden light flashed through his eyes. He gasped as sudden images flew through his mind, almost as if the emerald was talking to him. After a moment, he recognized what he was seeing: this was what happened to him on the ARK. These were some of his lost memories. It went all the way from the beginning with himself first meeting Katherine and Maria to the final moment with his sister whispering: "Forever and Always" to him.

He gasped when the images finally faded. Rouge grabbed his shoulder. "Shadow? Shadow! Are you okay?"

"We… we can't take this emerald back to the commander." Shadow gasped, looking at the emerald in his hands.

"What? Why?" Rouge demanded.

"EXCITEMENT LEVELS RISING." Omega stated. "WHAT IS THE MATTER, SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG?"

Shadow looked at the other members of Team Dark, a strange light shining in his eyes. "It's Katherine's. That's why we can't give it back."

"Whose? Rouge cried.

Shadow said nothing while he gripped the emerald tightly in his hands as it glowed. Katherine's words came back to him for a moment: _"If we ever get separated and if this thing is still around it's got to mean I'm alive, right? If my soul is dead then this thing dies. I guess you can say it'll help you know if it's worthwhile to keep looking for me or not."_

_She's alive_. Shadow thought to himself. He looked out towards the setting sun while Rouge and Omega stood quietly behind him.

Katherine. Alive. His only family left. What would G.U.N. do when they found out that another threat to them was alive? Who cared? She was alive and that was all that mattered to him now. His life had a purpose once more. Shadow lifted the emerald towards the setting sun.

"Forever and always, Katherine, that's how long I'll remember you." Shadow promised, clasping the emerald tightly in his hand.

The End

**Another story down with a good ending, even if it was a short chapter, if you haven't read Dimension Jumpers yet then go over to that story where Katherine and Shadow reunite again.**

**Windy "So that's your background story… amazing."**

**Katherine "Yeah…"**

**Windy "Well… now what?"**

**Zap *pulls out spoon* "I shock both of you."**

**Windy and Katherine *anime tear drop* "Seriously?"**

**Zap "Don't give me that! Come here so I **_**can**_** shock you!"**

**Shadow "Chaos Control!"**

**Zap "Oh great, Katherine's little brother's here."**

**Shadow "What do you think you're doing?"**

**Katherine "He's trying to shock us with a spoon."**

**Shadow "Again?"**

**Windy "Pssh! You're telling me."**

**Shadow "Either way, Amy was wondering where you three are. We're late for another one of her **_**parties**_**."**

**Katherine "Right! I totally forgot! Come on, Windy!"**

**Windy "You're coming too, Zips."**

**Zap "What? No! BlackSandHeart!"**

**Me "_ANYWAYS, _thanks for reading the story and please stay tuned for the next story that will come out: 'Day of the Dead' where your favorite characters including new OCs come in where the dead bad guys (example: Mephilies) and good guys (example again: Maria) come back to fight! Story should be out already out so go to my profile to find it (if not then check again in a few hours). Thanks again for reading and light be with you all 'till we meet again! **

**Me (still)"Thanks again to Maraya Prower, lydiatgetugerioean, raeweis, and Skagui the sniper for reviewing!"**

**Katherine "BlackSandHeart, come **_**on**_**!"**

**Me "Coming!"**

**Shadow "Chaos Control!"**

**WINDY'S NOTE: Thanks to Maraya Prower for reading. Therefore you get a hug if you review but here's on in advance *hug***


End file.
